May 6, 2009

Electric City Bus Exceeds 21 MPG Equivalent

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For a vehicle weighing more than 36,000 pounds (with passengers), a new electric city bus delivered an impressive equivalent of more than 21 miles per gallon.

The FCBE 35 Proterra electric bus, currently going through tests in Altoona, Penn., delivers 400 percent better performance than comparable conventional and hybrid bus options, reports AutoBlogGreen.

According to a press release, the calculated diesel equivalent fuel economy for each phase was:

  • 21.35 mpg on the central business district phase
  • 17.55 mpg on the arterial phase
  • 29.23 mpg on the commuter phase.

For the test, each phase simulated transit-type service at seated load weight and included various passenger pickup stops.

The bus ran without air conditioning, however. Running the air conditioning may reduce efficiency by 30 percent, according to the release.

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Reader Comments

This is awesome and I am all for it, but I wish people would realize it makes no sense to state what the gas (or in this case diesel) equivelent mpg is if they don’t give the actual mpg when running on those fuels and how is the equivilent calculated (by cost of fuel vs elevctricity or energy of electricity used versus potential energy in fuel used etc)

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