At the International Busworld fair 2011 in Mumbai, Tata Hispano displayed a Hybrid urban bus capable of running on Diesel, CNG or electricity. Designed by Tata Motors, the company says that this bus offers an optimal ecological efficiency.
Madrid has placed an order for ten buses last year. The dual purpose served at this Expo is the bus is a medium to showcase the technologies developed by Tata Motors and as batteries are expected to reach a lower price point over the next few years, sending the important message out on to the market that Tata Motors is future-ready.
Tata has listed the merits of the CNG-Diesel hybrid model in a press release and they include
- Electric traction system from Siemens employed in over 2000 buses worldwide.
- A full electrical model, possible for zero emission operation, for short distances.
- Common hybrid drive for Diesel-Electric and CNG-Electric, which can be extended to Pure Electric, CNG micro turbine and hydrogen fuel cell buses.
- Overall cost over the lifetime of the vehicle is lower, due to savings in running costs. Procuring cost is significantly higher.
- Regenerative electronic braking allows reuse of energy dissipated during braking.
- Very low and transient engine operation.
- Electrically driven auxiliary systems.
- Automatic Electric mode.
- Lithium-Ion battery pack provides better performance compared to Lead Acid pack.
- Smaller engine gives rise to less noise.
- Energy management strategies allows tuning to suit specific customer requirements, depending on the operations.
