Irizar and Scania Innovate Sustainable Bus Future with Hybrid-Electric Coach

by Sean Mortell (Australian Bus and Coach) In recent years, Irizar and Scania have combined to produce a hybrid-electric coach offering that is rethinking the future of sustainable transport around Australia

In music, a bridge is often considered the most important part of a song, providing the emotional or musical ‘pivot’ that can elevate a song from good to great. In the local bus and coach industry, Irizar and Scania have put their skills together to create the sector’s own important bridge in the transition to zero-emissions vehicles. In this case, the all-important bridge is a hybrid-electric model that has emerged as a popular option for operators wanting to progressively lower emissions without having to introduce large-scale charging infrastructure.

“Scania first started with a hybrid-electric model in the city bus sector, using it as a stepping stone for operators who had the intention of eventually going fully electric,” Irizar Asia Pacific managing director Steve Heanes told ABC.

“We were approached by operators who wanted to use this technology, so we’ve recently worked with Scania to build a vehicle together with an Irizar body.”

For both brands, the decision to venture further into the hybrid-electric space was all about opportunity. Scania has been supplying hybrid-electric powertrains to the Australian bus market for almost a decade, starting in the route bus segment. The technology can now reduce fuel burn and emissions by around 25 per cent for operators, depending on the application. The technology also allows short distances to be travelled on battery power alone when in silent mode, while using this technology with fuels such as B100 diesel or HVO can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 92 per cent. After this became popular for operators working in densely populated areas, it was a no-brainer for Scania to join forces with Irizar to expand this technology into the coach market.

“Scania believes that the hybrid-electric gives the best of both worlds,” Scania Bus & Coach national sales and contract manager in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia Jamie Atkinson told ABC.

“It’s a powerful, clean and frugal diesel engine that can be run on renewable diesel and combined with silent mode for densely populated areas, as well as the ability to recharge the batteries on the move, and still reduce overall fuel burn and emissions.

“Adding in Scania’s safe chassis technology, this combination provides a win-win for operators, driving down total operating costs while reducing the vehicle’s environmental footprint.”Heanes says the partnership and hybrid-electric product came to fruition when Irizar heard from operators who wanted to take a smaller step towards running electric buses but either didn’t have access to fully converting their fleet or were too nervous to do so.

“They only wanted to take the initial small step across instead of jumping across to create a zero-emissions path,” he says.

“Scania was the only brand who had a hybrid model available in Australia, so luckily they agreed it was a real opportunity. We had operators from the resources sector in particular who were keen, so we built the vehicle together.”

The Scania and Irizar hybrid-electric combination is currently operating in mining environments in Western Australia. The process for this happening started with Scania and Irizar combining for a project in Brazil to design the model meeting local weight requirements.

Once the model arrived in Australia, the teams drove the models across to Perth, crossing the Nullarbor to record fuel economy data compared to driving a diesel coach.

“The body is our base 3700 model, but already this combination has numerous advantages,” Heanes says.

“For example, it acts as a stepping stone to zero-emissions buses as operators can geofence the coaches to switch to electric mode. This is particularly handy if a driver is going into an enclosed area, like a shed or a pick-up point, or even near a train station, to reduce fumes and emissions for passengers.”

The total package sees Scania’s 360hp (265kW), nine-litre, five-cylinder diesel engine fitted into the chassis to produce 1700 Nm of torque, while a 175hp (130kW) electric machine adding 1,030 Nm of torque. All of this is driven through a 12-speed Scania Opticruise automated manual transmission.

“Thanks to a 375-litre diesel fuel tank, the hybrid-electric powertrain has a substantial range, depending on driving conditions and loadings, while it can travel between eight to 12 kilometres in pure electric drive mode,” Atkinson says.

“This results in key benefits like a reduced fuel burn and emissions compared to regular diesel engines, while it can travel in electric silent mode while still offering easy diesel refuelling and no range anxiety. The Scania hybrid-electric system is essentially a self-charging hydrogen-electric vehicle.”

The platform also uses Scania’s New Bus Generation chassis to include key safety and assistance features like Scania Driver Support, automatic emergency braking, an electro-pneumatic parking brake, adaptive cruise control, vulnerable road user collision warning, blind spot warning, lane departure warning and hill-hold.

The technology may be novel in Australia, but it also emanates from a growing global partnership between the two international bus OEMs. According to Atkinson, there are currently “several hundred” Scania Irizar hybrid-electric vehicles in service in Europe, predominantly in Spain, using the same powertrain.

“The program has been in place for several years already and the product is proven in service,” he says.

“So far operator feedback has been positive, given the easy driveability, lack of range anxiety and the seamless transition from ICE to EV driving modes.”

For Heanes, the Irizar team may have joined the hybrid train a touch later than their chassis partners, but it’s been a worthwhile exercise for the global bodybuilder. While there are no clear goals in place for what the future of hybrid electric bus and coach technology looks like in Australia, he’s hoping the pair can continue innovating in the space to provide a critical bridge for local operators wanting to begin the transition to more sustainable operations.

“We’ve found that the technology is an ideal halfway point between using diesel buses and going fully electric – hybrid has a lot of electrical components similar to electric buses that provides the experience for drivers while maintaining the remote reliability of diesel,” he says.

“We think there’s a real opportunity for hybrid in Australia – we know Scania are moving towards more electric models in future, but we’ll be looking at what governments reveal this year about the transition to sustainable buses and provide an important solution for operators around the nation.” READ MORE