About those 'green' buses
From the
New York Post:
MTA hasn't purchased a hybrid bus in three years - and new diesel engines could make a return
The MTA�s electric revolution is grinding to a halt.
The agency hasn�t purchased an electric-diesel hybrid bus in three years, and as many as 389 � 23 percent of all its hybrids � could be retrofitted with new diesel engines soon, MTA officials revealed to The Post.
Union officials warned that the switch will come with a great cost � to the public�s health.
�It�s a slap in the face if they start going back to diesel again,� said a skeptical transit-union source. �It�s not good for people�s lungs.�
But the city may not have a choice, since hybrids haven�t worked very well, an insider says. Maintenance workers �constantly� have to repair hybrid engines.
�The electric-traction motors are burning out,� the source said. �They�re so expensive to replace that it�ll be cheaper to stick a diesel engine in there.�
A July 2012 contract between the MTA and Indiana-based engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. confirms that the MTA is evaluating how to convert hybrid buses to a �diesel-engine-only application.�
The switch comes at a time when both President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg are calling on government to reduce emissions by using cleaner fuel sources and adopting more efficient fuel standards.
But the MTA argued that new diesel engines are actually cleaner than hybrids, which conform to 2004 Environmental Protection Agency emission standards, according to Henry Sullivan, the MTA�s chief maintenance officer for buses. The new diesel engines conform to stricter 2007 standards.
�When we first went with the hybrid in 2004 that was the way to go,� he said. The diesel is �better than the hybrid now.�
The new diesels �approach or exceed the emissions profile of a hybrid electric,� added spokesman Charles Seaton. �In high-speed operation, they work better.�
There has been a huge push to clean up diesel exhaust and the gains have been major in the last ten years. Makes total sense that a diesel from today would be a lot cleaner than one from 2004.
The efficiencies of hybrids are ephemeral at best -- you save energy when you are coasting or going downhill but that energy is spent again when accelerating or going uphill. You can pre-charge the batteries (plug-in hybrid) but that just shifts the production from diesel to coal.
I would be interested in seeing the wages of a diesel bus driver v/s those of a hybrid driver -- the union is squawking and I bet that this is the underlying reason.
Posted by DaveH at July 2, 2013 9:06 AM