[TusharK]

Eicher Trucks & Buses has launched its first zero-emission smart electric bus in India. The Skyline Pro E electric bus is powered by Revolo - an electrification technology developed indigenously by KPIT Technologies.



Revolo is a modular system that can be applied to wide range vehicles including cars and buses. The system consists of an electric motor, electric motor controller, a battery pack and a battery management system. It is claimed to regenerate 36% of the energy resulting in a consumption of 0.8 units/km. The total range on single charge with air-conditioning is claimed to be 177 km.



The Pro E is based on the Skyline Pro platform. It will be built at Eicher's manufacturing facility in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The Skyline Pro E is 9 meters in length and has air-conditioning. The bus comes with a top-up charger as well. The Revolo powered buses will be compatible with on-board Wi-Fi and app based ticketing services.



The Smart Electric Skyline Pro E buses have been certified to ply on Indian roads. The batteries used in the buses have been subjected to the 'nail penetration' test among other safety tests. Eicher's network of dealerships and service stations will be providing aftersales support and maintenance for operating the new zero-emission buses.

Link to Team-BHP News

[Thirugnnanam]

Good to see that manufacturers have started preparations in full swing towards electric transportation.

One way to popularise these buses would be to target school/college/office staff buses. With this claimed mileage, these buses could finish their single trips for a day without needing recharge and recharge could be done overnight.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Thirugnnanam

One way to popularise these buses would be to target school/college/office staff buses.

Great suggestion . I recollect a famous executive (Bob Lutz?) saying that electric commercial vehicles will first enter the market in select applications like these - the education & corporate sectors, local cargo delivery mini-trucks, transportation within private premises & campuses etc. These are sectors where the usage is less brutal than say, a public city bus. Also a good testing ground for manufacturers to finetune their products while battery prices come down & their range increases. After all, this is an entirely new area for vehicle manufacturers & there's a lot to learn.

[srishiva]

I believe buses and trucks provide a better way of protection from high voltages, battery safety owing to more space available and ease of packaging them. They dont have to pack them tight like in passenger cars etc.

But looking at the wave of electric vehicles being introduced in our country, I fear if they will make bad examples of them. They havent been able to create clean and simple vehicles in the fossil fuel category. I hope they adhere to higher standards than when they built the fossil fuel ones in terms of maintenance, comfort and pollution (good recycling methods from start). Modular design should bring down costs as technologies advance.

[sreeharipv]

Super excited. 177 km with AC means they are ideal for city. Most of the city routes in Indian Metros can be covered by that. I hope they soon bring out full size buses that can replace those smoke belching dinosaurs that ply in our city streets.

[poised2drive]

This is a great news, especially for a country like India.

Originally Posted by Thirugnnanam

One way to popularise these buses would be to target school/college/office staff buses. With this claimed mileage, these buses could finish their single trips for a day without needing recharge and recharge could be done overnight.

Originally Posted by GTO

These are sectors where the usage is less brutal than say, a public city bus. Also a good testing ground for manufacturers to finetune their products while battery prices come down & their range increases. After all, this is an entirely new area for vehicle manufacturers & there's a lot to learn.

I think it is the other way around.

While the nichè markets would not be so enthusiastic about trying new technologies since any minor glitch in the vehicles would adversely impact their functioning, the Government Transport Corporations like BEST/ TSRTC/BMTC that have thousands of buses at their disposal will likely take a chance to buy a few of them and run in routes with variable occupancy ratio or distance or other factors where the buses undergo realtime test and yield a better understanding of their working.

And since they own a large fleet of buses, even a malfunction in them would not hamper their services.

And in addition, since TSRTC/BMTC/BEST operate buses in Hyderabad/Bengaluru/Mumbai, they have more manoeuvring space to test run the new buses in urban environment where any problem could expedited addressed due to the presence of necessary technical infrastructure (workshop/trained technicians )

Having said that, being a Government Officer, I have a firsthand knowledge of the inertia of the Government mechanism and it is hard for us to employ new technologies before private operators . But in this era of tech-savvy politicians, it is not hard to convince them to look for these new technologies.

SO , I really hope corporations like DTC or BEST try these out and be a game changer in the field of urban public transport.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...le19941863.ece

"Our modelling shows that there is slight but significant reductions even without all vehicles being electric vehicles. We can reduce emissions by up to 4.3% through increasing public transport and taxing private vehicles. But, by stressing for electric vehicles, we can reduce emissions by 84% in 2030 and even 90% by 2050,” said Ashish Verma, Assistant Professor from the Department of Civil Engineering, IISc., who is the principal investigator for the project."

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by Thirugnnanam

Good to see that manufacturers have started preparations in full swing towards electric transportation.

One way to popularise these buses would be to target school/college/office staff buses. With this claimed mileage, these buses could finish their single trips for a day without needing recharge and recharge could be done overnight.

School college buses will be possible, but most office or company buses do 3 trips a day, and depending on distance of company from city it can be as much as 150 km per round trip. Staff buses doing 3 trips to Ranjangao or Shirwal from Pune clock 500+ km daily, too much for a new technology.

Originally Posted by poised2drive

This is a great news, especially for a country like India.

While the nichè markets would not be so enthusiastic about trying new technologies since any minor glitch in the vehicles would adversely impact their functioning, the Government Transport Corporations like BEST/ TSRTC/BMTC that have thousands of buses at their disposal will likely take a chance to buy a few of them and run in routes with variable occupancy ratio or distance or other factors where the buses undergo realtime test and yield a better understanding of their working.

Ideal would be to contact smaller corporations where the Municipal Transport has been contracted to a private player. Eg Ahmednagar (contract with Purple) or Jalgaon in Maharashtra. They have just under 100 buses, and established contractors with own workshops where technetians can wait. Buses run about 300 km a day and have a 2 Hr or so low traffic hrs break.

Rahul