If you hop on the bus on busy 76 route in London anywhere between Waterloo Station and Tottenham, you’re going to be using one of Volvo’s hybrid double-decker buses. The 26 buses that Arriva operates along this route use a diesel-hybrid powertrain that, according to Edward Jobson, head of environmental affairs at Volvo Buses, saves Transport for London (which contracts out to Arriva) 34 percent in fuel costs compared to traditional buses. TfL is running tests using a variety of buses from different companies, and Jobson said the next-closest offers reductions of 27 percent. All told, Arriva uses 46 of Volvo’s double-decker hybrid buses.
The diesel-hybrid powertrain can also be found in Volvo’s single-story 7700 Hybrid buses, which are in operation around the world. Volvo calls its diesel-electric buses, “the only commercially viable hybrid on the market.” Whether or not that’s true we’ll leave up to the fleet purchasers, but at least Volvo has put 300 of these buses into operation thus far. There is a video showing more about the Volvo buses after the jump.
