Will it be a good move for PTOs to buy a hybrid bus fleet?

Merczrox SG

lack of infrastructure
lack of awareness
high operating costs
lack of any significant incentives

even hybrid cars, the demand is fast waning

unless, unless, government gives such a huge subsidy such that it equals the cost of a diesel equivilant... which wont happen.. CNG will be taxed this/ next year.

any corporation will not take on this project without calculating all these..

u see the china bus rotting in NTU
u see all the trials involving electric vehicles, cars or buses..
all came with a bang, left with a whimper

untill last week, singapore only got in a handful of electric mitshubishi i to test out.. after they chased away daimler's cars some years back

now the focus is mainly on improving fuel efficiency.. not a lot on alternatives
the hunger for oil will never be reduced

Good.Haha!! :))

ghost79 SG

Bus fan only interested to see demo or handful. If buy anything bulk they will sure whine.

SBS 1000U SG

I think the immaturity of the technology and costs of operating such buses still remains high. I don't think that the passengers are willingly to fork out more fares to pay for such buses.

However if the costs of such buses and operating them lowers in futre, I hope that SBST will buy a big fleet of the Mercedes Benz F cell bus.

But no China buses, I had lost confidence in them since last year's CNG bus blast.

eX.A.K.R. SG

For hybrid buses, I think we may have to wait a few years before they start coming in. The government also needs to push ahead and set up the infrastructure needed to support these buses first as an initiative to the bus companies to bring in such buses, before we will see such buses hitting the road en masse.

vicamour SG

No, out of the question. The operating cost will be higher than anything else, it will definitely be more expensive to operate. Basically, its not economical to operate this type of buses.

If SBST one day decides to bring in the Citaro F cell or Volvo B5L, what will you do?

vicamour SG

I am in favor for more environmental friendly buses but based on current technologies, cost of operations and avaliability of infrastructure, it will still need to take another 5 to 10 years more before we can really see them.

Even on the current hybrid car technologies, there are still many teething problems for hybrid technologies and the cost of manufacture, operating is still higher than conventional petrol and diesel cars. Moreover unlike other countries, Singapore government only talk and talk about caring for the environment but actions on incentives to bring in such vehicles seems to be slow, slow introduction of such cars, inadequate tax incentives and infrastructure, etc. Even Frisker cars, manufacturer of electric cars, which wanted to sell full electric cars here by this year hits the speed bump. The relevant local authorities gave a very lame excuse that the technology is currently still not suitable here or something like that.

However bio diesel will be another better alternative as it is as cheap as petrol and diesel, doesn't require much changes to current engine technologies, easily obtainable (from used cooking oil and hence recyclable too, and through growing of plants which provide bio fuel), and most importantly, much lower emissions than conventional fuels. However the technologies of refining bio diesel needs to be further improved to reach the efficiency standards of diesel.

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