VOLVO GAS TURBINE HYBRID CITY BUS: Experience and results from an ongoing field test

摘要

The development of alternative drivelines and vehicles for alternative fuels has an important role for Volvo Bus Corporation in the long term perspective to reduce the environmental impacts of its products. In 1999, Volvo Bus Corporation began a field test of a gas turbine driven hybrid city bus in Gothenburg, Sweden. The electrical drive train, a series hybrid configuration mainly consisting of a single shaft high-speed gas turbine, a battery buffer and an electrical motor drive system, has been implemented in a standard low-floor city bus. The hybrid bus has significantly lower emissions compared to buses with conventional drive trains, and when the gas turbine is powered by ethanol, a renewable fuel, the environmental load overall is very low. The main objective with the Volvo Gas Turbine Hybrid City Bus is to study the hybrid driveline and gain field experience. This paper presents the current status and the results from the field test. But, it also presents data from performance tests that has been carried out during the development phase.