The Future Transport Award highlights effective, environmentally sound and economically viable transportation solutions and the Arctic Whisper seems to fit that description perfectly. The Arctic Whisper’s battery pack is end-of-route rapid-charged by Opbrid’s overhead Bůsbaar charging station. Within ten minutes, the bus is charged up and ready to pound the streets again.
Of course, since the bus has a diesel engine, it doesn’t have to be juiced up to roll down the roads. With a full tank, though, and ultra-quick charges at either end of the line, the Arctic Whisper, in limited real-world trials, can operate for approximately 18 hours. The true beauty of Arctic Whisper is that its diesel engine means that brown-outs, black-outs or frigid weather won’t leave this mostly electric bus and its passengers stranded on the side of the road in need of some juice.
The Arctic Whisper urban bus that transforms diesel hybrid buses to use grid electricity was honored at the Elmia Future Transit Fair on October 5, 2011. The Arctic Whisper’s hybrid bus batteries are fast charged by the Opbrid Bůsbaar for 5-10 minutes at the end of its route to achieve nearly 100% all-electric operation but with the reliability of diesel.
Jönköping, Sweden (PRWEB) October 07, 2011
Hybricon (Umeå, Sweden), co-developer of the Arctic Whisper fast charged hybrid bus, last night won the Future Transport Award in the category of Public Transport during the bi-annual Elmia Future Transport Fair in Sweden. The Future Transport Award is awarded to highlight good examples and role models who have developed effective, environmentally sound and economically viable transportation solutions for personal travel and freight transport.
Two Arctic Whisper buses are currently undergoing testing in Umeå, Sweden with initial passenger revenue service beginning soon. The initial test results are very promising and will be presented at the European Electric Vehicle Conference in Brussels on October 27, 2011. The world’s first fast rechargeable hybrid bus is a collaboration between the companies Hybricon AB, Opbrid SL (Granada, Spain), e-Traction BV (Apeldoorn, Holland), Umeå Energi AB and the Umeå City Corporation.
Elmia Future Transport is a meeting-place where important future issues relating to intermodality, environmental requirements and logistics are discussed.The Arctic Whisper solves one of these issues by converting diesel buses (hybrids are still diesel burning, albeit more efficient) to buses running almost entirely on grid electricity.
The Arctic Whisper is the world’s first fast-charged hybrid bus. It combines the no-emission benefits of an electric bus with the reliability of a diesel bus. The Bůsbaar charging station provided by Opbrid SL is located at one end of an Umea bus route that fast charges the bus for a few minutes at the end of each trip. This extends the all-electric range of the e-Traction hybrid bus to 18 hours. And, since this is a serial hybrid bus with a backup diesel generator, the bus can continue running on diesel or bio-diesel in case of brown-outs, traffic jams, or very cold weather.
At the end of the route, the driver pulls up underneath the Opbrid Bůsbaar charging station, and the tram-like pantographs on the bus roof quickly raise up to contact the Bůsbaar. The charging process is completely automatic, with the driver never having to leave the bus. When the batteries are charged, the driver continues on as normal. The batteries are also fully charged at night, with the Bůsbaar providing the additional electricity needed for a full day of electric driving.
