Re: Electric buses
  Prescott

I had a ride yesterday on the Yutong electric bus operating between Nowra
and Kiama NSW. It's a nice ride and it goes like a scalded cat. In fact the
driver said that he had trouble keeping it *down* to 100 km/h on the
highway! It's completely silent on the outside and on the inside there is
the characteristic high-pitch whirr of the electric motor, though in this
bus it is no worse than the best modern trolleybuses I have ridden and
quieter than a BYD. The interior noise level is on a par with the quietest
new diesel buses, though I find the low-frequency noise of a diesel more
tolerable than the high-frequency noise that electric buses and trams
produce (except the newer Skodas like the 15T which are extremely quiet).

It has a range of some hundreds of kms - after 200 km on this run it had
only gone through about 20% of its battery reserve. The real test for an
electric bus is of course urban stop-start work where the range will be a
lot less. It has regenerative braking. The most disappointing thing is
that, even though this E12 model is a low floor one (there are examples of
this in Paris), for some reason the Australian distributor has had this one
fitted with a high floor (with huge steps up to it) in the rear, presumably
to "Australianise" it! (Dont' get me going about the Australian bus
industry.) Of course there is no reason for this as there is no diesel
engine or even batteries under the floor (the batteries are on the roof).
The seat pitch is too cramped for me and I attribute this to the loss of a
little space at the back, resulting in a shorter interior than typical for
a 12 metre bus and thus trying to squeeze more seats in. Otherwise overall
a nice bit of urban transit kit.

As I was leaving the bus stop at the end of the trip I almost got run over
by the bus (the "silent death") as I crossed the road as I couldn't hear
it, just as I nearly got run over by a Skoda 15T in Prague once. I guess
trending to noise abatement has its downsides and the good old roar of an
early-model diesel or the loud whistle of a CAF tram have something going
for them!

http://historyworks.com.au/Yutong%20003.jpg

http://historyworks.com.au/Yutong%20006.jpg

The interior of the Paris E12 with the low floor as per model specification:

http://yutongeurobus.se/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/interior4-3-1.jpg

Tony P