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New York’s MTA to swap out hybrid bus engines for diesel

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plans to pull back on its hybrid programme, swapping out their hybrid engines for newer diesel ones, which have become more fuel efficient than many comparable hybrid cars.




05 August 2013 - The news comes as cities across the world have adopted greener technology in public transport vehicles to reduce emissions - including nitrogen oxide gases that cause ozone air pollution and the micro-particles in vehicle exhaust that cause respiratory problems, especially among children and the elderly. So, why now?


An MTA representative commented that hybrid city buses work best with “intense stop-and-go routes where the average speed is 8 miles per hour.” In situations where buses travel longer distances at higher speeds, the hybrid system is less useful because the lithium ion battery harvests power when the vehicle brakes and when the bus is coasting. The MTA says it will maintain the hybrid engines for buses in Manhattan, which travel much slower and brake more often than the buses in the outer boroughs. 


Newer diesel technology such as the clean diesel TDI system that some manufacturers use in many of their sedans, has become more fuel efficient than many comparable hybrid cars. Like other internal combustion engines, the new diesel technology releases the same pollutants, but not nearly as much as traditional diesels used to put out.


New York City has about 5,700 buses. The number of hybrids will be reduced gradually from 1,677 to 1,288. The main reason for the swap to 100 percent diesel is fiscal; as warranties expire on the hybrid engines, the city will have to take on the added cost of maintaining hybrid systems.


“The electric-traction motors are burning out,” a source at the city’s maintenance division told the New York Post in a report published Sunday. “They’re so expensive to replace that it’ll be cheaper to stick a diesel engine in there.”


Better designed incentive policies might be needed to maintain the current level of hybrid buses worldwide.



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