A new Centre of Competence has been established by MAN Truck & Bus in the field of hybrid technology.
The company introduced the diesel electric hybrid Lion’s City Hybrid back in September, 2010, which uses 30 per cent less fuel than a conventional, diesel-powered city bus. It is already in operation on routes inMunich,Paris,Barcelona,Milan,Viennaand in other cities; and features a D0836 six-cylinder diesel in an EEV version rated at 191kW/260hp with a CRTec particulate filter and a 150kW generator.
Its energy storage system is actually located on its roof and features 12 modules of high power capacitors that store recuperated brake energy. They can either be powered from the diesel generator unit or the energy storage system; while the Lion’s City Hybrid can pull away from a stop by stored electric power without generating emissions.
According to Bernd Maierhofer, the director of research and development and purchasing of MAN Truck & Bus AG, hybrid technology will play a fundamental role in the future of commercial vehicle segments and so the Centre of Competence will focus on research right up to series production.
Introducing hybrid drives for commercial vehicles is seen as a major challenge for all manufacturers and while regular service buses in cities operate in a continual cycle of acceleration and deceleration, long-haul trucks run at largely constant speeds over long distances.
