Here are some things to highlight:
1. Radiator positioning of the sbst unit is exactly the same as
the white king long hybrid which is on the offside. On the
Transtar's KL, its on the nearside, and much bigger in size.
2. There is approximately 50-80cm of storage area between the
last seat and the rear of the bus, which results in no rear
windows. Again, both sbst's unit and the white king long hybrid
shares this feature. The area is likely used to store batteries
within. The transtar's KL does not have this storage area, and
there are seats installed until the very end.
3. The white king long hybrid has side panels which can be
opened located after the front axle. Their purpose is also to store
the batteries. This again is demonstrated on sbst's unit, and non
existant on the transtar's examples.
4. STEGG's FY2010 Annual Report as mentioned by
buses[in]gapore
Everyone is welcomed to verify the facts, and draw upon your own
conclusions.
As for myself, based on the above facts and making an educated
guess, i would say it shares enough similarties with the white
demonstrator unit to say that this sbst unit is also a
diesel-electric hybrid, and not a pure diesel.
Just to add on to your observations, i saw the side facing
seats after the right front wheel mounted on a "box" platform
(seats mounted directly on the platform). Might be the batteries.
It's still a low entry unit with zero step floor at the
front half to exit door. i wasn't able to see if there's any
similar box on the side facing seats behind the left wheel.
