Filed under: Hybrid, Transportation Alternatives, Europe/EU
Castrosua unveils Tempus, its first hybrid bus
Spanish busmaker Castrosúa has unveiled its first hybrid bus. Named Tempus, the new electric-diesel-powered bus will be ready this summer. Developed with a company called Mormendi, the Tempus is the child of a young industrial engineer called Jaime Moreno. Tempus has already won the "Spanish Bus of the Year" award for 2009 - that was fast - and Madrid and Barcelona are among the cities that will get some units for testing. The Tempus has two electric motors that power the rear wheels. The motors get their juice from chloride-sodium batteries placed inside the vehicle's roof. The electric powertrain is mated to Iveco's smallest diesel engine and the bus uses just 80 liters to go 300 km, a 50 percent reduction compared to similar units. The Tempus is designed for very tight routes; it measures 9.5 meters long and 2.55 meters wide, perfect for old city centers.
[Source: El Mundo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Carney 1:49PM (1/05/2009)
A great big WHO CARES.
We can't conserve our way out of gasoline use, by definition.
In fact given economic growth, especially in the developing world like China and India, all conservation does is slow down the growth, meaning even more oil will be used later, even if we all use hybrids.
Gasoline-electric hybrids are expensive, heavy, and distract attention from the only affordable, practical game-changer in surface transportation: flex fuel.
Flex fuel vehicles can burn gasoline and alcohol with equal ease, and the capacity adds only $100 to the cost of the vehicle, with negligible weight and space. And instead of eking out a few more miles from their gasoline-only fuel tanks, FFVs transform the whole picture by permitting a wholesale switch to an alcohol economy, with a fuel that is far better for the environment than gasoline: non carcinogenic, non-mutagenic, biodegradable, carbon neutral (ethanol and plant methanol), and emitting no soot, smoke, or particulate matter, and causing far less acid rain and ozone smog.
Finally unlike other schemes such as natural gas, FFVs' ability to burn gasoline if they can't find alcohol means that they are a practical and viable bridge technology from gasoline to the future; you're not out of luck if you're out of your non-gasoline fuel. But you have a strong incentive to look for alcohol and demand it from your local fuel station because it costs less.
Reply
carcomptoy 11:47AM (1/06/2009)
I hope you're talking about other alcohol sources besides corn-based ethanol. That's one of the worst things that's happened recently, enticing farmers to sell their corn for fuel instead of food, raising prices for cattle feed, and skyrocketing food prices in general.
Yeah...some practical game-changer.
Reply