AutoblogGreen

Greetings.

Many thanks for highlighting our new solar electric bus on your website.

It's a very proud achievement for the Adelaide City Council - the culmination of an eight-year, million dollar project to deliver an electric bus for the City of Adelaide.

Importantly, it will directly benefit our community, because we're intending to use the solar electric bus in our free community bus service.

I can assure readers that the electric bus - named "Tindo", which is the local Aboriginal word for "sun" - is a pure EV.

It will be recharged using a unique solar PV system installed on the roof of the new Adelaide Central Bus Station.

This system generates 70,000 kilowatt hours of zero carbon emissions electricity per year - which makes it the largest grid-connected solar system in our City.

"Tindo" has an operational range of 200 kilometres between charges under typical urban conditions, and as it doesn't have a combustion engine, it operates quietly and effectively with zero tail pipe emissions.

It uses 11 Swiss-made Zebra sodieum/nickel batteries, giving the bus unprecedented energy storage and operational range.

And the batteries are not affected by external temperatures.

If anyone would like further information about the Adelaide City Council's world first 100% solar electric bus, please contact me at D.Heath@adelaidecitycouncil.com

Cheers & Merry Christmas.

David Heath
Adelaide City Council

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The 200km range is fantastic. Good machine!

The mirrors do make it look like a floppy eared bunny though. But what an environmentally sound bunny. ;)

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Brilliant idea, well done to the Adelaide City Council for making it a reality.

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I think that solar buses are exactly what we need in the US for the southern and midwestern areas which receive good sunlight. It is possible that charging stations could also be created from wind power as well for windy areas so the solar buses might be renamed "clean energy" buses.

adrianakau2aol.com

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Tindo

Tindo Green, the Sunlight Bus,
Silently, without a fuss,
Long the roads, of Adelaide,
Will travel on, while fossils fade.

adrianakau2aol.com

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There is no such thing as a "zero carbon emissions pv" or "non-polluting" bus. Not unless beach sand was used in raw form and thrown on the roof of a log with wooden wheels.

Anybody with half a brain can see that the energy required to generate pv and design and build a bus is a negative return and produced tons and tons of carbon in the process.

I'm all for alternative energy, but mighty tired of the outright lies regarding how "zero pollution" it is or how "efficient" it claims to be.

Everything comes at a price.

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A very good point, comment 6., lifeofliberty...

The manufacturing process should always be taken into account - but lets look at the positive:

This bus is replacing a standard internal combustion engined bus which would have used up just as many resources to build - so it is still a massive improvement.

Can I make a suggestion that governments (especially USA) could set up a manufacturing off-set scheme where they stop building missiles, tanks, humvees, etc. to the equivalent of each 'green' vehicle built?

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Very exciting news! The residents of Adelaide must be so proud to be the first city with a solar bus :) Way to go!

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