City could pay to turn hybrid buses into diesel buses

[Doug_G]

Each hybrid bus costs anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000 more than regular diesel buses. The city made the investment because it hoped to save on fuel costs.
Instead, the city spent $1 million more on diesel fuel than it expected to last year, Deans said. It also cost more than $7 million to replace the batteries on some hybrid buses last year.
In light of the underperformance, the city's draft budget for 2013 includes $550,000 for a pilot project to rip out the hybrid electric/diesel engines and replace them with regular diesel engines.

City could pay to turn hybrid buses into diesel buses - Ottawa - CBC News

Ick.

 

[jerry33]

Sounds as if the drivers didn't like them so they drove them in a fuel consuming manner.

 

[Doug_G]

Well it's entirely possible that the routes they were on weren't conducive to driving appropriately. We have Transitway corridors here, which allows buses on many routes to travel at high speeds without frequent stops.

It's also possible that the hybrid technology they bought wasn't any good.

 

[AndreN]

I guess it would make too much sense to sell them to another city that actually wants them? Or swap some for another city's regular busses? Maybe they should just give them to GM to crush. That would probably be easiest, and GM's good at that.

 

[bint2k]

its crazy to see that battery tech even in a large vehicle like a bus can still be bad. Sometimes it makes me think about going diesel before battery tech improves enough to replace it.