Seattle To Purchase Up To 500 GM Hybrid–Powered Buses

19/05/2007

King County Washington was awarded a contract for the purchase of up to 500 articulated buses most of which will be powered by General Motors' 2-mode hybrid system IndustryWeek reports. The five-year contract which could be worth as much as $400 million is between King County and bus-manufacturer New Flyer Industries. General Motors supplies New Flyer with the hybrid system for the buses.King County has been operating a fleet of 214 GM hybrid-powered buses since 2004 and with the addition of this contract King County could have a total of 714 buses making it the largest fleet of hybrid-articulated buses in history.A NREL one- year comparative study (PDF) between conventional diesel buses and GM hybrid-powered buses operating on a typical King County drive cycle showed that the GM-hybrid powered buses achieved 30 percent higher fuel economy on average when compared to the conventional diesel buses and total operating costs were lowered by 15 percent.