Sharon See Channel NewsAsia 20 Jul 10;
SINGAPORE: Singapore's first hydrogen-powered public bus will hit the streets next month.
It'll be the first such bus in Southeast Asia and promises to help save the environment.
Called GreenLite, it does not emit carbon and is "low" on noise.
It's powered by a battery system and fuel cell technology that "converts" hydrogen into electrical energy and creates pure water as a by-product.
The bus is jointly developed by researchers from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and China's Tsinghua University over seven months.
Professor and associate dean (research) at the College of Engineering in NTU, Soh Yeng Chai, says: "This is a new concept in the sense that the standard fuel cell bus uses about 80 to 100 kW (kilowatt), whereas ours is only 40 kW.
"The whole idea is that we want to use the concept of combining hydrogen and battery system to co-power the bus. So under normal conditions, the fuel cell stack is strong enough to power the bus, and at the same time charges the battery. But in high-load conditions, we need to use both the hydrogen and the battery to power the bus.
Such eco-friendly technologies don't come cheap.
Hydrogen costs six times more than diesel.
Prof Soh says: "Currently to run 100 kilometres, we need about 10 kilograms of hydrogen; that translates to about $300."
Still, SBS Transit will be testing out this fuel cell bus, as well as a hybrid bus that runs on both diesel and electricity.
It has trained eight bus captains to operate these buses.
Gan Juay Kiat, CEO, SBS Transit, says: "We're in the early stages of this trial, and we have to consider the capital cost and the operation and maintenance costs of the bus. That's why we're embarking on this trial to understand it more before we make a decision, going forward as to having more hybrid buses in the fleet."
GreenLite will be used first as a shuttle bus for athletes and officials at the Youth Olympic Village next month.
After that, it'll be used for Service 179 and 199, while the hybrid bus will ply the route of Service 185 for a year. - CNA/jm
SBS goes green with new eco-friendly buses
Business Times 21 Jul 10;
SBS Transit has joined the drive toward environmental consciousness, with two new eco-friendly buses unveiled yesterday.
The buses run on fuel cell and diesel hybrid systems, reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
The fuel cell bus, GreenLite, was developed through a collaboration between Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Beijing's Tsinghua University, China's Higer Bus Company and SBS Transit.
GreenLite is powered by two sources of energy - hydrogen and lithium-ion batteries.
A fuel system aboard the bus acts as an 'energy converter', transforming hydrogen into energy that powers the vehicle and charges the batteries at the same time.
Since GreenLite does not run on fossil fuel, the bus has zero carbon emissions - it only discharges water.
The bus will be garaged at NTU, where there is a refuelling station, and will be used to provide shuttle services in the Youth Olympic Games Village, also at NTU.
Upon completion of the Youth Olympics, it will be deployed on an SBS Transit route that caters to the NTU community.
The hybrid bus, which runs on diesel and electricity, was brought in by ComfortDelGro Engineering in collaboration with Shanghai Sunlong Bus Company and Gemilang coachworks of Malaysia.
Fuel savings of up to 30 per cent result from using electricity to power the bus. Electricity is generated through brake energy and stored in lithium-ion batteries.
The energy in the batteries is then released to help the engine power the vehicle. As a result, fuel consumption decreases.
The bus employs a parallel hybrid system - developed by Eaton Corporation of the US - in which a motor is used to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy and vice-versa.
Two hybrid buses will be deployed on Service 185, which plies between Soon Lee Depot and Buona Vista Terminal serving residents in Jurong East, Jurong West and Clementi.
Both the fuel cell and hybrid systems will begin a year-long trial in August.
Year-long trial for green buses
Straits Times 21 Jul 10;
COMMUTERS from Jurong East, Jurong West and Clementi will be taking a greener bus route to Buona Vista from next month.
Bus operator SBS Transit is adding two hybrid buses to service 185 as part of a year-long trial.
This is the first time such a trial is being done here.
The green SBS Transit buses are powered by both diesel and electricity.
The use of electricity to power the bus reduces fuel usage by 30 per cent and decreases the amount of emissions released as well as the noise generated.
Also being tested out for a year is a zero-emission bus built by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and China's Tsinghua University.
The 72-seater will be used to ferry participants of the Youth Olympic Games around the NTU campus, where the Youth Olympic Village is situated.
After the Games, the bus will be used on services 179 and 199, which run from Boon Lay interchange to the university.
This hydrogen-electric hybrid bus has eight hydrogen tanks on its roof, which hold about 128kg of pressurised hydrogen.
It can run for about 150km without refuelling.
By using hydrogen instead of diesel or petrol, the bus emits no carbon dioxide, a contributor to global warming.
Instead, what comes out of its exhaust pipe is water.
In comparison, a normal diesel bus produces 1.39kg of carbon dioxide a kilometre.
But Professor Soh Yeng Chai from the NTU's college of engineering noted that while the environmental benefits of the green buses are tremendous, the cost of running, maintaining and building such a bus is much higher than that for a normal bus.
For example, it will cost 40 per cent more to buy a hybrid bus and 30 per cent more to maintain it. The cost of the fuel cell is six times that of a diesel engine and it requires about $300 worth of hydrogen to run 100km.
As to whether bus fares will go up if these new models are adopted nationwide, SBS Transit would not comment, but said it was holding the trial to see how cost-effective it would be to use such buses.
MARIA ALMENOAR
