On 25 May 2010, the Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft transport company put the first MAN hybrid bus into service. Nine years later, these clean and efficient buses can be seen all over Europe; MAN hybrids can be seen on the road in Madrid, Barcelona, Vienna, Warsaw, Dresden, Nuremberg, Paris, Milan, Wolfsburg and Lübeck. In total, MAN has sold about 800 MAN Lion’s City Hybrid buses to customers in ten different countries since 2010, and was able to gather a great deal of expert knowledge with the hybrid drive. France, Spain, Poland, Germany and Sweden lead the sales statistics and, together, make up over 95 percent of the volume. Customers in the French market have invested in nearly 300 MAN hybrid buses and operators from Spain have invested in almost 200 vehicles. Between January 2018 and April 2019, the company sold 194 MAN Lion’s City Hybrid buses.
“The hybrid bus is on trend. It’s the first step towards emission-free traffic,” said Rudi Kuchta, Head of Product & Sales Bus and Speaker Business Area Bus at MAN Truck & Bus. “More and more cities are responding to the current challenges of urban mobility and are overhauling their public transport systems. With this in mind, transport operators wish to lower the emissions and fuel consumption of their growing fleet. Following the successful Lion’s City Hybrid model, the new MAN city bus generation with state-of-the-art diesel and gas engines as well as MAN EfficientHybrid offer the perfect solution.”
New Lion’s City with MAN EfficientHybrid
The new MAN Lion’s City range with MAN EfficientHybrid has plenty to offer. Both the diesel variant with the new D15 diesel engine as well as the gas version with the completely redeveloped E18 engine series, come with the option of being combined with the MAN EfficientHybrid. This is a system that noticeably reduces fuel consumption and emissions. In doing so, the series standard stop-start function ensures extremely quiet and emissions-free stop phases in urban traffic. “The new technology allows the bus to be completely switched off when making stops at bus stops and traffic lights. So far, we are the only company in the market to offer something with this MAN EfficientHybrid functionality,” emphasised Jan Aichinger Head of Product Marketing Bus. He added: “It allows our hybrid system to noticeably reduce emissions and thereby improve the air quality within inner cities – in just years. The MAN EfficientHybrid and its energy storage device are designed for up to the impressive amount of 2.6 million stop-start cycles.”
The core of the system is the crankshaft/starter motor/alternator, an electrical machine which transforms mechanical energy into electrical energy when the vehicle is braking, and also supports the internal combustion engine when it comes to starting torque. In doing so, the recovered energy is saved in an ultracap storage system on the vehicle roof, ensuring supply to the vehicle electrical system – regardless of whether the engine is running or not. Along with the MAN EfficientHybrid, an intelligent energy management system is also used in the new MAN Lion’s City; it controls the operation of the diesel engine and automatic start-stop system, checks the charge level of the ultracaps and regulates the drive of the auxiliary units. The intelligent control system means there is no need to set different routes or driver profiles for the bus. MAN EfficientHybrid continuously optimises the most sustainable consumption mixture, manages energy storage and generation, and guarantees the usability of auxiliary units.
MAN hybrid buses: a clean and efficient solution for public transport
MAN has been investigating the bridge technology that is hybrid technology since the 70s. It helps to lower emissions. Long-standing experience with electrified drivelines and components has allowed MAN hybrid buses to roll off the assembly line in series production since 2011. The wheels were set in motion for series production of the new MAN Lion’s City in the Polish plant in Starachowice in May 2019. Equipped with MAN EfficientHybrid, the next generation of efficient and environmentally friendly MAN hybrids will be rolling out into the major cities of Europe from this site. Current orders indicate that the concept continues to impress – the Metropolitan Transport of Barcelona recently ordered 30 Lion’s City buses with MAN EfficientHybrid. Likewise relying on the latest MAN hybrid technology are Linz Linien GmbH (which ordered over 88 MAN vehicles for the third-largest city in Austria) and LVL Jäger GmbH (which is located on the outskirts of Stuttgart in Ludwigsburg and ordered over 50 city buses).
SOURCE: MAN Truck & Bus
