Electric bus - partial trolleybus
  prescottt

People may be interested in this - it's electric transit but not down under yet.

As some may be aware, there's a vigorous all-out push in many European cities, as well as China, to electrify their bus fleets (what a different world from Australasia!) and there's been an umbrella EU project in Europe, Zeus, guiding this. As most would be aware, there have been numerous trials and in-service applications of autonomous (battery or battery/capacitor) electric buses for some time now. There are even some of these buses in Australia.

The biggest problem is of course achieving range without compromising the functionality of the bus and, like similar developments with trams, there have been numerous (attempted) solutions trialled including flash recharging at stops and induction ground power (Bombardier Primove), most of which haven't been adopted because they're so extremely costly and can compromise and delay the operation every time the bus needs a recharge. On the other hand, loading more batteries on board (which the Chinese like to do) ends up compromising the bus by taking away internal space. In practical terms, the best autonomous operation has got as far as 10 to 12 metre rigid urban buses with a range up to 200-300 km, which can get through a shorter roster with just an overnight recharge. However, articulated buses are still beyond reach of the technology (except the very costly Primove).

The Czechs have been working on increasing the range of autonomous (wire-free) operation (mainly in trams and trolleybuses) for some years now and development has reached the point of enabling larger operations to consider compete bus fleet conversion, including artioulated buses. Prague is now embarking on this, the challenge being that it operates one of the largest proportions of articulated buses of any fleet, over 40% of the fleet, due to the extremely heavy task that the bus operation performs (over 350 million passenger journeys per year, that's over 60% more than Australia's biggest, State Transit). So it's necessary for the technology to be able to move articulated buses in heavy-duty operation, yet a technology like Primove is far too costly to afford.

The solution that they have come up with is what they call the partial trolleybus, which is a bus that uses the trolleypoles for recharging only and not as the primary method of powering the bus which is by batteries (which are also charged by regeneration and overnight at the depot). The only infrastructure required is overhead wire for about 10% of the route, a small section of overhead at the termini for flash recharge and an overnight charging facility at the depot.

A trial route has been created in north-eastern Prague, with recharge wires only over the steepest section, the climb from the river basin to the top of the plateau. The rest of the route is wireless. Last Sunday, a day of public rides was held and for the occasion a 1954 Tatra T400 trolleybus was also brought out of the DPP museum to commemorate 45 years since trolleybuses last operated in Prague.

Below is a video of yesterday's activities. The T400 of course had to be turned around by towtruck as there is no turning loop in the wires. The other new fully low-floor buses are by the Czech bus manufacturer SOR. The 3 door bus is purely a battery bus with pantograph for flash recharging at termini. The other 4 door bus is is a model that's been around for a few years as a diesel and (conventional) trolleybus model and in this case is now fitted out as a partial trolleybus with batteries. Note the automated, remote control of the poles which no longer have ropes with reels. As you can see in the video, they lower on the move, while, for raising, they rise into hats at a stop during the stop dwell.

Remember, this is not a trolleybus operation, it's a battery bus with recharge on the move - which of course doesn't stop everybody enthusiastically saying "look, trolleybuses have returned to Prague!" It is hoped to start the serious business of trialling articulated bus operation soon. Enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt8-KQWIaPI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt8-KQWIaPI

Tony P