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Sp otlight on technology
Page 20
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• There were plenty of innovative PCVs at the Geneva Show, but the exhibit that drew the biggest crowds was arguably the most innovative of them all. For a start the 145-passenger articulated trolleybus which Neoplan has built for the city of Basle has not one engine, but four: electric wheel-hub motors with roof-mounted control gear. This allows a flat floor height of just 32cm throughout the passenger area.
Technology
Taking full advantage of modern fare collection technology, the driver is sealed off from his passengers in a separate compartment, which he shares with an MDS flywheel/ generator energy recovery system.
The 17.7m artic bristles with safety and surveillance equipment, including sensors for the pump which maintains a vacuum in the flywheel housing to prevent burn-up. Four sets of doors will aid the rapid entry and exit of passengers which is essential in such a high-capacity vehicle; those doors make use of a radical swing/slide configuration to project only 50mm when open.
Basle has an option for 12 more examples of what might just herald a new era in PCV technology.
Other low-floor city buses at Geneva included contenders from Kassbohrer, MAN, United Bus (with the first City Alliance for a German user) and Van Hool, which has just won its first Swiss order for the new A300. E Auwarter showed a MercedesBenz 814-based midibus for Lucerne with a low-floor rear platform to allow wheelchair access.
The forward-engine midi was one of the first applications of the Voith Midi-Mat transmission.
German specialist Droginelller's line-up included the new E430U Super Comet 53-seater coach with a Mercedes-Benz driveline, controversial "underfloor" driving position, and a saloon floor which is ramped at almost 3°. The show exhibit featured a striking livery produced in collaboration with the brewery which sponsors the coach.
Debutantes
Among the debutantes at Geneva was Volvo's rearengined B10 B which has retained many proven features from the mid-engined B10 M and uses only 250 new components. The B10 B is made at Boras in Sweden, but is expected to go into production at Irvine by the end of next year. It is intended for city and inter-urban operation but, surprisingly, its frame height is almost 10cm higher than the UK-built Lynx chassis which it is due to replace.
In view of the trend towards lower step heights, Volvo's latest PCV looks certain to be joined by the low-floor bus that appeared as a fullscale mock-up at last year's UITP Congress.
The BIO B at Geneva featured the
optional sidemounted radiator for the THDIO engine, which is rated at 178-250kW (240335hp). It was shown alongside the first bodied example, built by Steyr for the Austrian national bus network.
Volvo also used the first show of the year for the Swiss launch of the B12 R-based Berkhof Excellence coach and the B6 citybus, also bodied by Berldlof. Outside the Palexpo halt were a pair of 132 minibuses, derived from the original Steyr City Bus but now powered by fourcylinder Volvo petrol engines.
The last-minute decision by Padane of Italy to exhibit at Geneva followed an agreement with RYE to base a version of its Padane MX coach range on the chassis version of Renault's FR 1, the SFR 112. So far Padane has built 12 of the attractive stainless steel-bodied coaches, all for Italian customers. It is called OPERA — an acronym of Officine Padane et Renault Autobus. Another surprise exhibit was the Mercedes-Benz Tom-ismo, which marked the survival of the 0.303 range of vehicles built in Turkey. This extends the option originally offered only in Switzerland as the Transfer.
Production of the 0.303 in Mannheim will cease this year when the jigs and assembly tools will be shipped to Russia for use in a large-scale manufacturing programme, but the Turkishbuilt lower-spec alternative to the expensive new MercedesBenz 0.404 will continue "for some years", albeit only in lefthand drive.
Subsidiary
Mercedes' Swiss subsidiary, NAW, also showed a number of buses, including the rearengined BH4 chassis which has been re-engineered to meet the requirements of its main user — the Swiss Post Office — with ZF IFS and power steering.
An NAW low-height articulated trolleybus chassis formed the base of the Swisstrolley, also shown by bodybuilder Hess.