Consortium Orders 157 GM Hybrid-Powered Buses

[Derek77]

Consortium Orders 157 GM Hybrid-Powered Buses

Eleven transit agencies in California, Nevada and New Mexico place one of the largest hybrid bus orders ever

DETROIT - A hybrid bus consortium consisting of 11 transit agencies in California, Nevada and New Mexico has awarded a contract to Gillig Corp. for the purchase of up to 157 diesel-electric hybrid buses powered by General Motors' advanced hybrid propulsion system.

The purchase contract is the second largest since GM's hybrid diesel-electric system debuted in 2003 and was spearheaded by the San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) in California. San Joaquin RTD formed the consortium with other transit agencies to boost purchasing power and reduce per-vehicle costs through mass ordering. San Joaquin RTD plans on buying 50 hybrid buses, while the remaining 107 buses will be available for other consortium members.

"Our Board of Directors' commitment to the diesel fuel path led San Joaquin RTD to purchase two GM hybrid-powered buses manufactured by Gillig in June 2004," said Bobby Kuhn, director of maintenance for San Joaquin RTD. "Since that time, we have experienced firsthand the reductions in fuel consumption, noise levels and emissions offered by this technology. These fantastic results convinced us to purchase additional buses, and to share our experience with GM's hybrid bus propulsion system with other transit agencies. The interest in acquiring the fuel-saving technology was amazing, so a purchasing consortium was formed."

Joining San Joaquin RTD in the hybrid bus consortium are the following California transit agencies: Benicia Transit, Fairfield/Suisun Transit, Golden Gate Transit, Humboldt Transit Authority, Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA), Monterey-Salinas Transit, SamTrans (San Mateo County), and Santa Barbara MTD. Citifare of Reno/Sparks, Nev. and ABQ RIDE in Albuquerque, N.M. also joined the consortium. Deliveries will begin in mid-2006 and conclude in late 2007.

"These hybrid buses will help San Joaquin RTD and other consortium members realize significant fuel cost savings by using diesel-electric hybrid systems," said Donna Kelsay, San Joaquin RTD's GM and CEO. "They also will help us fulfill our overall mission to significantly minimize air emissions, which in turn reduces the environmental impact to our region's land and water."

The California consortium members are purchasing hybrid diesel-electric technology in part to help meet California's stringent clean-air requirements for urban buses. The GM hybrid system provides transit agencies the option of a clean-air technology solution that has been reviewed and certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

Transit buses with GM's hybrid propulsion system deliver significantly better fuel economy than traditional transit buses, cut certain emissions up to 90 percent and have operating sound levels approaching that of passenger cars. Other benefits of the GM hybrid system include reduced maintenance costs resulting from extended brake, engine oil and transmission oil life, superior torque, and better acceleration.

"GM is committed to applying hybrid technology to the highest fuel consuming vehicles on the road, including mass transit buses," said Beth Lowery, GM vice president of environment and energy. "Successful projects like this one require strong partnerships between industry and government, and we commend San Joaquin RTD's leadership and all of the consortium members for their decision to choose GM's hybrid technology and their commitment to improving fuel economy and reducing emissions in their communities."

The consortium will join the growing ranks of communities that are investing in General Motors' clean hybrid technology. Currently, there are nearly 380 GM hybrid-equipped buses operating in 29 cities in the U.S. and Canada. For 2006, GM starts the year with an additional 203 hybrid-powered buses scheduled for delivery to six U.S. cities.

"The General Motors hybrid diesel electric drive system for buses uses the most efficient parallel hybrid architecture available in the world today," said Tom Stephens, group vice president for GM Powertrain. "If the U.S. had only 1,000 GM hybrid powered buses operating in major cities, the cumulative savings would be more than 1.5 million gallons of fuel annually."

The hybrid diesel-electric drive system is manufactured by GM Allison Transmission, maker of transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems for commercial trucks, buses, off-highway equipment and military vehicles, headquartered in Indianapolis. Gillig Corp. of Hayward, Calif., will manufacture the buses.

[avant1963]

Why doesn't the GM buses get more press? They save more gas that all the Priuses sold last year combined.

Isn't this a much more practicle application for the hybrid? A vehicle that travels 50x more miles a year than the average US driver?

What if every UPS truck, every bus, every garbage truck, etc had a hybrid? How many millions of gallons of gas would we save? How much cleaner could the air be? A hell of a lot more than an approximately 200,000 consumer hybrids.

And when all the hybrid tech is shook down by these big guys, the cost may be lessened for us little guys to purchase.

The lovely press portrays Toyota as saving the world with the Pruis but GM has an IV full of oil. If only they would report the truth.

[CARBIZ]

Agreed, but Toyota has a stranglehold on the media. Buying a Prius at this stage in the technology is more about APPEARING to do the right thing, rather than actually DOING the right thing.

Diesels are the same thing: unless you travel 50,000 miles a year, you won't get your money's worth.

[Newbiewar]

Agreed, but Toyota has a stranglehold on the media.  Buying a Prius at this stage in the technology is more about APPEARING to do the right thing, rather than actually DOING the right thing. 

  Diesels are the same thing:  unless you travel 50,000 miles a year, you won't get your money's worth.

diesels... have their place...

i remember in 1999 when a friend of mine bought her desiel vw bug... it was like 15k for a base gas, and like 19,9 for a deisel... the deisel got 50 mpg... made a nice 500 mile range on 10 gallons, or $15.00 at the time...

diesel engines last longer, and they are also generally more powerful, meaning if you get 50 mpg out of a prius (which i doubt) and 50 mpg out of a diseil but...

if i remember correctly that bug was rated at like 170 hp... the prius is rated at 72 hp, or 105 combined with the hybrid motor...

[Derek77]

Why doesn't the GM buses get more press?  They save more gas that all the Priuses sold last year combined.

Isn't this a much more practicle application for the hybrid?  A vehicle that travels 50x more miles a year than the average US driver?

What if every UPS truck, every bus, every garbage truck, etc had a hybrid?  How many millions of gallons of gas would we save?  How much cleaner could the air be?  A hell of a lot more than an approximately 200,000 consumer hybrids.

And when all the hybrid tech is shook down by these big guys, the cost may be lessened for us little guys to purchase.

The lovely press portrays Toyota as saving the world with the Pruis but GM has an IV full of oil.  If only they would report the truth.

Can you imagine the USPS using GM's belt hybrid from the Vue? Stamps would go back down to 37 cents!

[regfootball]

Why doesn't the GM buses get more press?  They save more gas that all the Priuses sold last year combined.

Isn't this a much more practicle application for the hybrid?  A vehicle that travels 50x more miles a year than the average US driver?

What if every UPS truck, every bus, every garbage truck, etc had a hybrid?  How many millions of gallons of gas would we save?  How much cleaner could the air be?  A hell of a lot more than an approximately 200,000 consumer hybrids.

And when all the hybrid tech is shook down by these big guys, the cost may be lessened for us little guys to purchase.

The lovely press portrays Toyota as saving the world with the Pruis but GM has an IV full of oil.  If only they would report the truth.

totally agree. public vehicles, postal vehicles, buses...imagine the fuel savings!

[Newbiewar]

totally agree.  public vehicles, postal vehicles, buses...imagine the fuel savings!

imagine the governement contract

the government is the only people that accually sign worse contracts then GM w/ the UAW and FIAT...

[Drew Dowdell]

if i remember correctly that bug was rated at like 170 hp... the prius is rated at 72 hp, or 105 combined with the hybrid motor...

The VW Diesel of that time was rated at 90 hp but it had 155 lb/ft of torque at 1900 RPM. It's performance was roughly equal to the 2.0 gasoline from VW except in the fuel mileage department.

[Newbiewar]

The VW Diesel of that time was rated at 90 hp but it had 155 lb/ft of torque at 1900 RPM. It's performance was roughly equal to the 2.0 gasoline from VW except in the fuel mileage department.

hey that thing was faster then my parents 1998 194 hp v6 camry... soo... but with new epa rules haha!

[toyoguy]

Why doesn't the GM buses get more press?  They save more gas that all the Priuses sold last year combined.

Isn't this a much more practicle application for the hybrid?  A vehicle that travels 50x more miles a year than the average US driver?

What if every UPS truck, every bus, every garbage truck, etc had a hybrid?  How many millions of gallons of gas would we save?  How much cleaner could the air be?  A hell of a lot more than an approximately 200,000 consumer hybrids.

And when all the hybrid tech is shook down by these big guys, the cost may be lessened for us little guys to purchase.

The lovely press portrays Toyota as saving the world with the Pruis but GM has an IV full of oil.  If only they would report the truth.

http://pressroom.toyota.com/Releases/View?...YT2005112805565

GM - 1,500,000 gallons annually per 1000 buses....380 buses currently

Toyota - 100,000,000 gallons saved since yr 2000.

[Derek77]

http://pressroom.toyota.com/Releases/View?...YT2005112805565

GM - 1,500,000 gallons annually per 1000 buses....380 buses currently

Toyota - 100,000,000 gallons saved since yr 2000.

Okay, let me get this straight. Are you trying to say that Toyota's way is better because it has saved more gas in the last 5 years? I agree with you there. But I think what avant1963 was trying to say is that Toyota hybrids saves (going by there numbers, and just dividing the total gallons saved / total hybrids, and the number of years) 80 gallons a year per vehicle. Where as a bus saves 1500 a year (going by GMs number). Which is better for everyone? I tend to think the buses make everyone happy?

Edited January 18, 2006 by Derek77

[Guest gmrebirth]

Why doesn't the GM buses get more press?  They save more gas that all the Priuses sold last year combined.

Isn't this a much more practicle application for the hybrid?  A vehicle that travels 50x more miles a year than the average US driver?

What if every UPS truck, every bus, every garbage truck, etc had a hybrid?  How many millions of gallons of gas would we save?  How much cleaner could the air be?  A hell of a lot more than an approximately 200,000 consumer hybrids.

And when all the hybrid tech is shook down by these big guys, the cost may be lessened for us little guys to purchase.

The lovely press portrays Toyota as saving the world with the Pruis but GM has an IV full of oil.  If only they would report the truth.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh why don't Toyota's hybrid busses get more press? At least GM's busses do get SOME press, where as Toyota's hybrid busses almost get NO press at all.

And it's ridiculous to compare a car with a BUS. Seeing as a bus is much bigger, much heavier, and way more polluting than a car, logically it would see more of a benefit with a hybrid drivetrain than a car.

Edited January 18, 2006 by gmrebirth

[Satty]

The reason hybrid cars get more praise than hybrid buses is that hybrid cars make individals feel like they are doing something significant for the world. It allows them to walk around with that holier-than-thou look on their faces. "I have a hybrid, I use less gas and pollute less than you." People like that, everyone enjoys being full of him or herself. Hybrid buses dont give that same sense of satisfaction for two reasons. One is that public transportation still has the "icky" stigma resulting from dirty, smelly buses and subways many city-folk grew up with. The second reason plays off of the first. Assuming a person actually knows that the bus they are riding is a hybris and saves a ton of fuel, they dont actually want to brag about riding the bus to work.

Hybrid buses=better for the environment

Hybrid cars=bigger egos

[Newbiewar]

http://pressroom.toyota.com/Releases/View?...YT2005112805565

GM - 1,500,000 gallons annually per 1000 buses....380 buses currently

Toyota - 100,000,000 gallons saved since yr 2000.

based on what?

k let me read the article... but i'm going to screw this article up...

k... basically read the article... accually read it months ago...

but let me pull out the calculator...

okay they claim that 250,000 Toyota and Lexus have clocked more then 5 billion miles... so on average 20k miles... okay...

now if saving petrolum based fuels is the goal... would you want to compare it to the best vehicle (fuel ecconomic leader) outside of the hybrid market...

we obviously see that people who own very expensive cars also own a prius... so the quality of the car isnt of concern...

so... if we choose a corolla to make the comparisons between, and lets go with the epa records of 30-38mpg... Fueleconomy.gov says combined is 33... it says accual average combined is really 29.5 (sounds like no one is driving on the highway)

but lets go with the 33 mpg...

the 2006 prius says 51-60 combined is 55... so... how does the consumer end up with 39.1? wow...

but lets just go with that... go from 33mpg to 55mpg...

so lets say, the difference is one gallon of gas gets you 22 miles farther...

so lets see here... in order to save 100 million gallons, that would mean, these 250k vehicles would need to have...

250k vehicles that travel an average of 12k miles a year... that means that these vehicles accumulate 3 billion miles per year...

so we can assume that the 250k units have been sold over the last 5 years...

but even if they were...

that would be... 3x5 years... so 15 billion miles for all 250k units... soo... with our 40% extra fuel ecconomy of the prius...

with 15 billion miles racked up at 33 mpg...

454 million gallons...

with 15 billion miles racked up at 55 mpg...

272 million gallons...

so theoretically if all 250k were on the road for 5 years... they'd acheive a fuel savings of 182 million gallons, but i know most of those were sold last year...

but if the fuel ecconomy is less then what the manufacture suggests... this is all bogus... and its all bogus anyway...

if you want to be good to the enviornment get a bio diesel vehicle.. that way no pollutants and no petrolum is lost...

what about the fuel savings of GM's new trucks... over the toyota trucks...

Edited January 19, 2006 by Newbiewar

[Flybrian]

Gallons saved compared to what, a Sequoia or a Corolla?