I worked at Volvo Heavy Equipment back in the early aughts. They had a presentation they showed us once where they thought they would be in 20 years. The idea was hybrid construction equipment by 2020s. I was surprised it would take that long, considering the Toyota Prius had been on the road for years by then.
But here we are now, mid 20s. Not sure about the construction equipment, but I think this bus is more impressive. Not hybrid, all electric even. Not often I get to say this nowadays, but sometimes it’s freaking cool to be living in the future.
(Around 400 mile range)
I didn’t see anything in the article mentioning if this range is with the bus empty, or full of passengers and luggage. I could’ve missed it though.
Loaded with passengers does not really affect range.
Yeah the weight of this chassis is likely incredible. Looks like the electric chassis can support 55,000lb coaches, so the chassis is likely 10,000-20,000lbs or more on its own with batteries. Total bus weight may be up to 70,000 lbs.
Even if you add 50 people each weighing 200lbs, that 10,000lbs is around 10% of the total weight.
I wonder what the effective range is if it’s charging at every stop (obviously depends on tons of factors).
Busses are a neat use case for electric vehicles in this regard.
Battery pack configurations between four and eight units (360 to 720 kWh) are possible.
the coaches can be charged […] by cable with up to 250 kW DC (charging port available on the left or right)
Imagine drawing 250 kW and still needing three hours to fully charge…
I mean, I get that drivers need breaks anyway, so this won’t be an issue for the operation, but damn, that’s a lot of energy. I just think it’s impressive.
