Flyer Xcelsior buses
Flyer Xcelsior buses

Seattle Transit Agency Drives Down Electric Path With HybriDrive Series-E – Oct 03, 2013– Seattle, USA (Techreleased) – King County Metro Transit in Seattle, Washington has selected BAE Systems’ HybriDrive Series-E electric drive system to power 120 New Flyer Xcelsior™ buses. This is the largest order to date of the HybriDrive Series-E propulsion system, which enables electric drive modes to eliminate emissions from the vehicle and to reduce engine idling.

Flyer Xcelsior buses
Flyer Xcelsior buses

HybriDrive Series-E can advance transit agencies toward all-electric buses, making silent operation of the vehicle possible and challenging fuel alternatives like diesel and compressed natural gas with its clean, efficient functions. The electric drive not only reduces noise in and around bus stops, but it represents a greater impact on environmental sustainability for the communities in which it operates.

“HybriDrive Series-E is categorized as hybrid drive system, but the fact is, it powers a bus completely electrically,” said Steve Trichka, vice president and general manager of HybriDrive Solutions for BAE Systems. “Power from the on-board generator is either stored in the batteries or drawn to run the electric traction motor and the drive train. The technology provides our customers with a path to an all-electric vehicle. ”

BAE Systems’ HybriDrive Series propulsion system powers nearly 4,000 buses worldwide today and is the most successful series system in operation. Buses equipped with the HybriDrive system have travelled more than 600 million miles, prevented more than 520,000 tons of CO2 emissions, and saved more than 38 million gallons of diesel fuel.

“With these new buses, King County takes another step towards improving the environmental sustainability of our region,” said Kevin Desmond, general manager of King County Metro Transit. “The buses will be delivered with advanced electrically controlled programming that turns the engine off at bus stops and depots. In addition, the vehicles will have all electrically driven components that use the vehicle’s electric energy instead of power from the diesel engine.”

The development and production of these hybrid propulsion systems will be conducted at BAE Systems’ Endicott, New York facility, with the first customer delivery scheduled for 2014.