Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
CITY BUSES * New Zealand - More sustainable ones
* Wellington - Wrightspeed is outfitting city buses, with a cutting-edge electric bus system
-- The trolly system in Wellington, New Zealand, will soon be replaced by Wrightspeed's high-powered electric engines... Enter Wrightspeed, a San Jose, California, USA-based company that sells heavy-duty electric motors that can move oversized buses, delivery vans, and even garbage truck more efficiently, with less fuel and much less noise... A former Tesla Motors founder, Ian Wright started his own company on a seemingly simple premise, applying the massive sustainability gains of electric engines to the least sustainable vehicles on the road. The company’s electric motors, battery packs, and a gas turbine can provide lumbering, multi-ton motor vehicles with 60 percent better fuel efficiency and 90 percent cleaner emissions. It was a simple choice for Wellington to go with Wrightspeed technology, which will be installed in the city’s trolleys over the next year as part of a US$30 million deal announced last week... Says Zane Fulljames, CEO of NZ Bus. "The technology enables us to reimagine our trolley buses, rather than decommissioning them" ...
(Photo: The Wrightspeed engine system)
... The Wrightspeed hybrid system—an electric motor with extensive power and torque, a computer-controlled high-tech gear box and four-speed transmission, and a battery that’s charged by a gas-fueled turbine range extender called the Fulcrum—provides the push needed to move a heavy vehicle up hills with an electric engine, while giving it the extra juice needed to last through a long, arduous route with multiple stops... Wrightspeed doesn’t work for every heavy vehicle, but for the backbone of urban transport and heavy-duty hauling, the system saves fuel costs and reduces emissions, with the more expensive upgrade paying for itself in three to four years... The New Zealand deal marks Wrightspeed’s first move beyond providing delivery vehicles, and as Wright sees it, a large new market for its sustainable technology...
(All images via Wrighspeed) -- Wellington, NZ - Curbed, by Patrick Sisson - April 29, 2016Labels: electric buses makers, public transport New Zealand
