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The Path To The Future Just Became A Whole Lot Clearer
The bus industry is on an interesting path and if you wanted any evidence of that then you need look no further than the recent Sydney Bus Expo.
The Bus Show as you will see in our coverage in this issue, was much anticipated and filled with an incredible array of technology, particularly in relation to the brave new world of zero emission buses and coaches.
After a break of five years since the last Australian bus show there was an enormous pent up demand for not only an event to showcase the bus industry but a get together for the industry.
The world has moved dramatically in those past five years. Back in 2017 there was one, maybe two electric buses at the show. In 2022 there were a whole fleet of electric and zero emission buses and they were the absolute talking point for the show.
It was much the same at the IAA Transportation Expo in Germany in September where zero emission was very much front and centre and the focus of just about every manufacturer there.
Are you getting the message? Electricity is coming and it is coming very quickly. Sure it is going to take some time for it to be the majority power source, a decade possibly two, however it is certain we are on a path that will deliver clean, green zero emission buses and coaches, whether they are battery electric or hydrogen fuel cell.
The challenge and the largest hurdle for the entire industry and particularly our governments will be infrastructure, both charging and far more importantly electricity supply. Just installing banks of chargers in depots will not be enough. There will need to be large scale increases in green power generation, either wind or solar, along with potentially large scale solar panel banks at bus depots and yards with battery back up that will enable fleets of buses to be charged overnight or between runs.
Of course for coaches and for buses on longer routes, then hydrogen fuel cells will most likely be the solution and the way to deliver zero emission power.
Just to rectify any mis-understandings, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are in fact electrically driven. Some suffer under the misapprehension that hydrogen is burnt as a clean fuel in an internal combustion engine. That is NOT the case. In a Hydrogen fuel cell there is a chemical reaction between an anode and a cathode with oxygen and hydrogen creating an electric current that is fed to the vehicle’s batteries or directly to the electric drive motors to power the vehicle. The only emission or by product from the cell is pure clean water vapour.
There are many projects in the offing at the moment, right around Australia, with major corporations, private equity operations and investors preparing to build green hydrogen electrolysers. These split hydrogen from water and capture it ready to be used in various industrial operations including creating fuel for commercial vehicles.
This all might seem like a pipe dream, however just remember how fast the complexion and the cycles move once they start. Just cast your mind back to early 2007 when there was no such thing as a ‘Smart Phone’. That didn’t come about till late that year and inside five years if you didn’t have a smart phone you were severely disadvantaged and considered a luddite.
Go further back and understand that the shift from horse drawn transport to automobiles in the USA took less than a decade. In 1904, the fact is that 95 per cent of transport in the USA was by horses or horse drawn carriages. By 1914, the balance had totally turned with automobiles accounting for 95 per cent of transport with good old horses falling back to just five per cent. That is how quick things change when a better solution comes around.
It is not going to be cheap, but the question we need to ask is how much is it going to cost the planet if we don’t change away from fossil fuels. The last few years of extreme weather events around the globe are just one by product of climate change and here in Australia the tragedy and devastation of bushfires followed by record floods is clearly evident for all of us to see.
So here is to the brave new world of zero emissions. It won’t be easy but then nothing that is good for us in the long run is.
Also in our magazine this edition, along with the full review of the Sydney Bus Show we have stories on MAN’s latest electric bus which it launched at the Sydney Show, we look closely at bus distributor BusStop and the White family’s move to zero emission buses.
We also have a fascinating story on new technology developed in the UK that will revolutionise the way electric motors used in buses and trucks are made and perform. While on the subject of new tech we have a drive of a hydrogen double deck bus right here in Australia, with the fuel cell powered Wisdom bus sourced from China being imported by Australian operation, H-Drive.
We also take a look back at the eight decades of the company that started out as Rowes and has since become Busways, has spent evolving and growing in the bus industry.
All that and a whole lot more in this issue of Coach & Bus, so strap in and enjoy the read.
Until next time, stay safe.
