Bus Manufacturer News & Discussion

[Richard Scott]

About the one thing, myself and the current London mayor agree on is that if we're going to find political willpower to do anything with them, it's scrapped the lot

That might be what you want but it's very costly and not necessarily the most sensible option.

 

[Volvodart]

Equipmake enters Wrightbus StreetDeck battery-electric repower

Equipmake enters Wrightbus StreetDeck battery-electric repower - routeone

Equipmake is a further party to enter the market for the repower of Wrightbus StreetDeck diesel double-deckers to battery-electric.

www.route-one.net

Equipmake is a further party to enter the market for repower of Wrightbus StreetDeck diesel double-deckers to battery-electric, with a package that it says will deliver a range of up to 200 miles.

That will involve the fitment of 436kWh of lithium-ion battery storage and no reduction in passenger capacity, the supplier adds. Equipmake’s own electric motor that produces up to 3,500Nm of torque is part of the package. Conversions can be carried out in “under three weeks” and come in at a cost of under £200,000.

Work with the StreetDeck represents a further application of the Equipmake Zero Emission Drivetrain. It plugs into the prop shaft and includes power electronics and an inverter that like the motor are proprietary, along with a patented and “ultra-efficient” vehicle thermal management system.

The driveline equipment fits into existing space within the bus and charging is via DC through a standard CCS connection.

Equipmake CEO Ian Foley says that the Snetterton business has worked “incredibly hard” to develop its repower package to suit the Wrightbus StreetDeck.

Mr Foley claims that the package is “sector leading.” While Equipmake has not named any customers for the conversion, he adds that the business looks forward “to converting as many of these vehicles as possible in the coming months.” Such work will deliver claimed lower running costs and “a better experience for passengers and drivers.”

Equipmake has already committed to repowering open-top tour buses in the London market to battery-electric and it has also installed the same driveline into a fleet of 12 Optare Versa EVs with First York. Those buses were built new as battery-electrics but subsequently reengineered by Equipmake.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Embarrassing for Wrightbus that Equipmake promise "no reduction in passenger capacity", while Wrightbus's conversion reduces capacity by six (for four battery packs) or twelve (five packs).

 

[hst43102]

Equipmake enters Wrightbus StreetDeck battery-electric repower

Equipmake enters Wrightbus StreetDeck battery-electric repower - routeone

Equipmake is a further party to enter the market for the repower of Wrightbus StreetDeck diesel double-deckers to battery-electric.

www.route-one.net

Interesting to see two separate manufacturers offering an electric conversion for the Streetdeck - I wonder if any will offer a conversion for the E400 (surely must be many more E400s than Streetdecks in service?)

 

[Bornin1980s]

I wonder, what are the oldest buses Equipmake has converted?

 

[Edvid]

W.r.t. Wrightbus' interest in NRM repowering, their phased withdrawal from passenger service (owing to age and the 15-year TfL limit) will probably commence by 2027. TfL could make an exception for them - they own them after all - but realistically the older builds wouldn't last long enough to make their conversion commercially attractive.

Sidenote - Equipmake pilot LT11 (off-road since December 2023) is now 11 years old.

I wonder, what are the oldest busses Equipmake has converted?

They're halfway through converting twenty 12-plate Anhui Ankai open-top deckers for Big Bus London.

Zenobē, a pioneer in electrifying transport fleets, has partnered with Big Bus Tours to deliver 20 sustainable open-top buses and the associated charging infrastructure to transform London’s sightseeing experience.

Serving iconic London landmarks including Big Ben, Tower Bridge and Tower of London, the new vehicles support the growing desire for greener tourism options, with 79% of travellers globally saying they want to use environmentally friendly modes of transport while on holiday1.

The agreement sees Zenobē financing the e-buses, in the company’s first retrofit project, as well as providing a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to enable Big Bus to be more proactive and agile with their energy costs.

Big Bus’ existing 10-year-old open-top Ankai diesel buses are making the switch from diesel to electric, after being repowered with a 328 kWh LG Chem Battery and powertrain, by Equipmake Limited.

Zenobē has also installed 10 temporary Direct Current (DC) chargers at Big Buses’ Wimbledon depot. This solution has enabled Big Bus to get their retrofitted fleet on the road in time for the busy spring, summer season and before the upgrade of the local electricity grid is complete.

The final of the first 10 buses has just entered into service and a further 10 at the end of the year.

And on that note, much of the recent work on ex-diesels (completed or underway) by Equipmake, Kleanbus and Magtec is for sightseeing operations.

* Diamond Bus / Magtec - 5 x MAN 12.240 Plaxton Centro
* Tootbus / Magtec - 15 x open-top Volvo B9TL Optare Visionaire
* Lothian Buses / Kleanbus - 18 x open-top Volvo B5TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 3
* Golden Tours / Equipmake - over 10 x open-top Volvo B5TL MCV eVoSeti

 

[MCR247]

Embarrassing for Wrightbus that Equipmake promise "no reduction in passenger capacity", while Wrightbus's conversion reduces capacity by six (for four battery packs) or twelve (five packs).

And doing so whilst boasting a longer range from what I can see.

 

[stevieinselby]

One thing has struck me though. The claimed 175 miles between charges is somewhat lower than that of the latest new offerings. That'll restrict where these conversions can be used.

That's unlikely to be a significant restriction, if that's 175 miles in normal service use. Looking at core bus routes in various cities around the country, even vehicles that run from the pre-morning-peak right through the evening typically cover less than 150 miles in a day's work ... and those are the most intensively used vehicles, there will be many more than are not running continuously for 18 hours. So an achievable range of 175 miles would allow you to cover the vast majority of urban daily diagrams – sure, there might be a small minority of boards that go over that, but that doesn't mean that this kind of conversion couldn't make a significant contribution towards greenifying a fleet more cost effectively and without scrapping a load of vehicles that still had years of useful life left in them.

 

[Goldfish62]

That's unlikely to be a significant restriction, if that's 175 miles in normal service use. Looking at core bus routes in various cities around the country, even vehicles that run from the pre-morning-peak right through the evening typically cover less than 150 miles in a day's work ... and those are the most intensively used vehicles, there will be many more than are not running continuously for 18 hours. So an achievable range of 175 miles would allow you to cover the vast majority of urban daily diagrams – sure, there might be a small minority of boards that go over that, but that doesn't mean that this kind of conversion couldn't make a significant contribution towards greenifying a fleet more cost effectively and without scrapping a load of vehicles that still had years of useful life left in them.

The claimed battery range always seems to be somewhat inflated in reality, is based on batteries when new and at optimum operating temperature. Plus it's usually recommended that state of charge is maintained in the range 20-80% to preserve battery life. No operator would wish to schedule anywhere remotely near the claimed maximum operational range.

 

[GusB]

I wonder whether it's only Wrightbus vehicles they can repower.

It would seem that the aim is to start with vehicles that they actually built themselves, but move on to other types.

Wrightbus launches Oxfordshire repower business - Bus & Coach Buyer

Wrightbus has opened the doors to a new repower facility in Oxfordshire which will convert mid-life Wright diesel buses to electric powertrains

www.busandcoachbuyer.com

NewPower aims to speed up the decarbonisation process by eradicating diesel powertrains in older fleets at a substantially lower price than a new battery-electric bus. It is focused on fitting its tailored electric drivetrain into Streetdeck buses, then tailoring it for Gemini 2, then New Route Master, with plans to then engineer solutions for other common buses, at around £1m per model.

I assume that the "£1m per model" is a one-off development cost, rather than per bus!

I read somewhere (sorry, can't remember where) that the issue with repowering any other vehicles (both Wright and other makes) was the cost of the initial templating for each model. If there was sufficient demand for a particular model, then they could do it.

I suspect this is probably from one of the articles regarding Equipmake's conversions. I can't remember exactly where I read it, but I'm sure I recall the company saying that the biggest hurdle was converting one vehicle of a particular type and getting it right; thereafter it's far easier to roll the modifications out to others.

It will be interesting to see how the situation plays out and whether there's enough demand to sustain multiple re-powering solutions; so far we've got Equipmake, Kleanbus and now NewPower.