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The shape of coaches to come? Should the emphasis of design be more on style than on the substance of aerodynamic efficiency and fuel economy? This was one of the questions at the forefront of the minds of many operators visiting the Busworld show in Belgium last month. David Wilcox went in search of answers.

wo new Scania models were unveiled at Busworld, both in the grey bread-and-butter combinations such as a Profile body on a area of the market where morph into coaches. The B7R chassis. The new Volvo/Sunsundegui Elegance, with B9R TOmniExpress, on two or three axles and from 11.4 to 14.7 metres underframe and nine-litre D9B engine at 340 or 380hp is likely to be in length, in essence is at the top end of Scania’s range, intended for another i4 rival. List prices of the new Scania coach start at around long-distance routes. A high floor (1,100 or 1,300mm) is flat, leaving £165,000. ample space underneath for luggage. Engine choice is between 8.9 and Its styling echoes the distinctive lines of the Irizar PB but the i4’s roof 11.7 litres swept volume. Bodywork, by Lahden Autokori of and height is lower (3.4 metres against the PB’s 3.7 or 3.9 metres) so the largely in stainless steel, is designed to withstand the rigours of droop of the front is less pronounced. There is an unusually wide range Scandinavian and Baltic winters. There are no plans to bring the of length options, from 10.7m to 12.9m on two axles, and from 13.7m OmniExpress to the UK. to 15m on three. And though overall height never varies, Irizar, Scania’s At the lower end of Scania’s coach range, the Irizar i4 integral coach Spanish bodybuilder partner, is building the i4 in three floor heights. The replaces the dated-looking Irizar InterCentury and is being marketed as a idea is to allow operators to decide what balance is required between dual-purpose coach, with a specification that allows it to be switched luggage locker space and ease of accessibility. Operators can also choose readily between scheduled express services and private hire. Geoff Bell, between two central door configurations, one of which is 1,300mm managing director of Scania bus and coach operations in the UK, hopes wide, big enough for a wheelchair lift stowed behind one of the step’s UK coach operators will find the Irizar i4 styling more attractive than risers.

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The shape of coaches to come?

The i4 uses the same Scania IB Slippery characters: Scania Irizar i4 underframe as the InterCentury, so it (above left) and Irisbus Magelys has a beam front axle rather than (above) the independent front suspension of the PB coach’s EB underframe. Gearbox choice is between the familiar ZF six-speed automatic, seven-speed manual and Opticruise eight-speed automated manual. The rear-mounted engine sits vertically and longitudinally with radiator alongside. Engine options are the 8.9-litre, five-cylinder DC9 at 270 or 310hp, and the 11.7-litre, six-cylinder DC12 at 340hp or 380hp. Both are Euro-4 EGR engines. Swept volumes go to 9.3 and 12.7 litres for Scania’s new Euro-5 EGR engines ( Transport Engineer October). Volvo coach chassis too are getting a bigger engine. But still nobody is quite sure when. Volvo’s 12.1-litre engine soldiers on (the DH12E in horizontal form) at Euro-4 and -5 despite the passing of more than a year since it was replaced in by the 12.8-litre D13A. Volvo Buses president Häkan Karlsson was expanding on the importance of fuel efficiency at Busworld. So how come the 12.8-litre is not yet in Volvo coaches when it is claimed to be five per cent more fuel- efficient (and 20kg lighter) than the old 12.1-litre? Mr Karlsson would not be tied down on timing, except to say: “I would like it as soon as possible.” Prevost, Volvo’s Canadian coach and bus subsidiary, is first in the queue for the D13A, he points out. Early next year the D13A will be offered as an alternative to the 14- Open wide: this is the lowest litre Detroit Diesel 60-series that is (860mm) of three floor heights the standard power unit at present offered on the Scania Irizar i4. The in Prevost coaches. wide central door and wheelchair lift The conservatively-styled Volvo are options. 9700 is a surprising winner of the

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for having “no unnecessary styling features to spoil the passengers’ view.” Mike Ball, newly appointed boss of Volvo’s coach division in (and formerly managing director of Volvo Buses in the UK) hopes that this award will help raise the 9700’s profile in the UK, where sales have been sluggish. “The facelift came too late in the year for this season,” he explains. The number of 9700 coaches sold in the UK in total this year is unlikely to top 15, compared with 25 in 2006. Mr Ball hopes next year’s sales total will be 30-40. One contender for the 2008 Coach of the Year award that oozes style, inside and out, is the Magelys, a new top-of-the-range touring coach International Coach of the Year Elegant by name, perhaps not by from Irisbus, ’s bus and coach division. The Magelys design is said 2008 award, presented at the nature: Sunsundegui Sideral body to be based largely on a huge market research project started as long ago Busworld show last month and on new underframe. as 2003 and involving operators, drivers, passengers and tour guides. judged by trade journalists from 15 The Magelys HD is a two-axle integral coach, at 12.2 or 12.8 metres countries. A restyled front panel introduced late last year ( Transport long and 3.62 metres tall, built at the big Irisbus plant in Annonay, Engineer December 2006) hardly injected ground-shaking excitement France. A taller and longer (13m and 13.8m) three-axle version, the into the Polish-built 9700, but Coach of the Year judges emphasise that HDH, is coming next year. they are looking for much more than style alone. Indeed jury chairman The Magelys is powered by Iveco’s familiar 10.3-litre Cursor engine, Stuart Jones of the UK’s Bus & Coach Buyer magazine praises the 9700 sitting vertically at the back, at 280kW (375hp) or 330kW (443hp). At

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Voting conservative: the absence of unconvinced by the Magelys interior, but external styling looks sleek and “unnecessary styling features” on the aerodynamically efficient. found favour with Coach of Irisbus surprisingly makes no claims for the Magelys on drag the Year judges. coefficient, unlike MAN’s subsidiary which boasts that the latest incarnation of its Cityliner is the most aerodynamically efficient yet in the the higher power output the engine model’s 35-year-long history. The two-axle version was introduced a year is matched to a ZF AS Tronic ago; three-axle versions, at 12.99 metres and 13.99 metres (with an automated 12-speed gearbox, electro-hydraulically-steered trailing axle) made their debuts at Busworld. whereas at 375hp only the ZF six- A typical coach’s drag coefficient (Cd) is around 0.5, according to speed manual box is offered. This Neoplan. The Cityliner’s is claimed to be 0.35. This can slice 10 per manual gearbox would make the Magelys highly unpopular in the UK but the problem does not need solving because Irisbus makes no secret of being disinclined to shoulder the cost of producing a right-hand-drive version of the coach anyway. And in continental Europe there is far less resistance from operators to manual gearboxes in rear-engined coaches, it seems. Field of vision emerged as a high priority in the Magelys market research, according to Irisbus. This explains the coach’s unusually tall side windows, supplemented by additional glass panels let into the roof above the cant rail. Overhead luggage racks have been inset so they are clear of the windows. Passengers next to the windows thus can stand upright without hitting their heads on the racks, proudly points out Irisbus. True enough, but they will need to remember to duck as they move towards the aisle. No effort has been spared by Irisbus engineers in designing Magelys seats, incorporating three-point belts and LED (light-emitting diode) reading lamps, rather than buying in any proprietary seats. But the seat’s End game: how various blends of attractive styling is not matched by coach style, aerodynamics and its comfort because of lack of practicality are brought together. lumbar support, judging by the ones Left to right: clean curves of the Transport Engineer tried at Scania Irizar i4 and Irisbus Magelys; Busworld. barn doors of the Noge Titanium; Irisbus is aiming unashamedly subtle air-deflector of MAN’s Lion high with the Magelys, targeting Coach Supreme; chamfered buyers. They may be angularity of Scania’s OmniExpress.

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Expensive overheads: classy and smoothly- sculptured MAN lockers (below) contrast with big windows and inset luggage racks of the Irisbus Magelys (left).

cent off fuel bills at speeds around Are you sitting comfortably? 100km/h, it is reckoned. Probably not in the Magelys seats, A generously-raked upper screen, designed in-house by Irisbus, concealed wipers and large-radius though the LED reading lights are a corners work wonders for the front nice touch. end, but Neoplan’s air-flow simulation software confirms plenty of drag and turbulence in the low- pressure area at the rear. The air-conditioning pod at the back of the roof heightens this effect. Perhaps there is scope here for a roof profile like that of the “teardrop” trailer recently introduced by Don-Bur ( Transport Engineer October), with height tapering down at the back as far as possible and the extra roof space created near the front used to house air-conditioning evaporators. Style seems to have taken precedence over the substance of Among several other shortened coaches on show for the first time at aerodynamic efficiency in the rear-end design of many coaches on show Busworld was a 10-metre version of the Marco Polo Viaggio III 350, on at Kortrijk. Exceptions include the Magelys and Neoplan Cityliner with Iveco Midirider chassis modules instead of the Eurorider modules used reasonable radii at the rear compared with some slab-backed bodies. under the longer version, and powered by a 300hp, 5.9-litre, six-cylinder Neoplan’s fellow Neoman group subsidiary MAN Bus has added a Iveco Tector engine. vestigial deflector to the rear edge of the roof on its range-topping three- But while some coaches are getting shorter, others are being axle Lion’s Coach L Supreme, its first model to use the new 12.4-litre lengthened, to the extent that some two-axle coaches are approaching D26 engine, rated at a stonking 353kW (473hp) at 1,900rpm, with the legal limit of 13.5 metres. Two-axle touring coaches in the past 2,300Nm of torque at 1,100-1,400rpm. seldom exceeded 12.8 metres, but several are now stretching to 13.0 In stark contrast to its highly-curvaceous prow, the Bova Futura suffers metres. Setra’s ComfortClass 400 S416 GT is 13.04 metres; and there is from both a slab-like back end and an air-conditioning pod right at the now a Mercedes two-axle Tourismo at 12.96 metres (and 3.62 metres in back of the roof. But the Futura is now all of 25 years old, so deserves height). The 402hp Mercedes 12-litre OM457 in-line six-cylinder engine respect for longevity if nothing else. Remi Henkemans, managing director used to power both the ComfortClass and Tourismo tell you that these are of Bova’s parent company VDL Bus & Coach, acknowledges that after a serious coaches, not lightweights. The Tourismo has 53 seats, a toilet, quarter century the Futura’s style is now more past than future. “We are and no shortage of luggage space. looking at it, but we are wary of change,” says Mr Henkemans. “Its The attraction of two axles instead of Smooth operator: Neoplan Cityliner design was quite unique and we have to be careful about what we do.” three – lower capital cost, lower boasts low drag coefficient, despite Meanwhile a shorter Futura, at 10.4 metres, was introduced at Kortrijk. running costs and bigger luggage low-pressure area at rear caused by As with longer Futuras, power is provided by Daf’s 9.2-litre PR engine, at lockers – are considerable, and both the position of the roof-mounted air- 228kW (306hp) or 265kW (355hp). Setra and Mercedes point out that in conditioning pod.

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countries such as France and two-axle coaches pay lower road Sunsundegui on its 13-metre Big is beautiful at MAN: this is the and tunnel tolls than the three-axle variety. A return trip through the Mont Elegance, is aluminium framing for new 13.8-metre, three-axle version Blanc tunnel would cost a three-axle coach €381. For a two-axle coach seats. Seat supplier Esteban reckons of the Lion Coach Supreme, the tunnel charge comes down to €188. But when these vehicles are this saves about seven kilograms a powered by a 12.4-litre D26 engine. filled to maximum capacity there is a real risk of overload. pair, or the best part of 200kg in Figures from the UK’s Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) total. Irisbus says that the decision to build the two-axle Magelys to 12.8 show that in the 12 months to April 2006 as many as one in five metres was influenced by the fact that coaches in France, its home German coaches stopped here for weight checks were prohibited for market, can operate within the law at 19 tonnes gvw on two axles, overloading. Lengthening coaches surely shortens the odds on such thanks to a drive-axle limit of 13 tonnes instead of the usual European breaches of the law. limit of 11.5 tonnes. Mercedes and Setra seem to have recognised the problem, saving To visitors from the UK, where there seems hardly any interest in bus weight by modifying heating and air-conditioning systems, fitting thinner and truck engines meeting the European Union’s EEV (enhanced window glass, and using aluminium alloy wheels as standard. Mercedes environmentally-friendly vehicle) standard (the Euro-5 oxides of nitrogen has done well to keep the weight of the 13-metre, two-axle Tourismo to (NOX ) limit but with a lower particulates limit) it must have been just over 13 tonnes, but even now a surprising to find that Busworld was awash with EEV engine options from full complement of luggage, the likes of Mercedes, Setra, MAN, Volvo, Scania, Irisbus and VDL. All Long in the tooth but short on the passengers and fuel would take it simply take Euro-5 engines and add a diesel particulate filter to the road: the Bova Futura’s 25th perilously close to the 18-tonnes- exhaust. Job done. Perhaps all that is needed to stimulate EEV interest is birthday is celebrated with the gvw limit. government incentives? introduction of a 10.4-metre version. Another weight-saving ploy, used by No manufacturer at Kortrijk seemed keen to discuss Euro-6 emission

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limits but many were more than happy to talk about alternative retorted that the company was Stretching the point: the two-axle powertrains designed to cut emissions and improve fuel economy. “focusing on doing it right” rather Setra ComfortClass 400 S416 GT Enthusiasm for hydrogen-powered fuel-cell buses appears to be waning. than rushing to capture the headlines. has gone to 13.04 metres. Both MAN and Scania wonder how hydrogen fuel can be generated in an Compressed natural gas ( CNG ) is environmentally-friendly way. “We believe we will not see bio-based MAN’s other favoured power source: it is currently supplying another batch hydrogen and fuel cells this side of 2020,” opines Scania’s head of bus of low-entry 18.310 bus chassis fitted with the 12.8-litre E2876 CNG research and development, Göran Hammarberg. Right now, Scania engine (306hp/1,250Nm) to an operator in Brisbane, for bodying continues to advocate ethanol-fuelled diesel engines ( Transport Engineer by a local bus-builder. These achieve EEV -level emissions. July 2006) while development on diesel-electric hybrids continues apace. Mercedes plans to start operational trials of its hybrid articulated Citaro “Within five years hybrids will be part of our regular product offer,” within the next few months. The 12-litre diesel in the standard Citaro is declares Mr Hammarberg. There may well be several variants – series replaced by a 4.8-litre engine in this series hybrid, charging lithium-ion hybrids for city-buses in stop-go traffic and parallel hybrids for buses and batteries in the roof to power four wheel-hub motors on the centre and coaches on intercity work or in hilly terrain. “But the micro-hybrid will be rear axles. The diesel engine is cut when the bus is close to bus stops, so the volume seller,” forecasts Mr Hammarberg. He says these will be that it runs in zero-emission mode. Downsizing the engine saves 550kg. capable of fuel savings of up to 10 per cent by dint of a small parallel Eliminating the automatic gearbox slices off another chunk of weight, so hybrid system to recapture braking energy and use it to power auxiliaries despite the sizeable bank of batteries this hybrid is said to be only about such as air compressors and power steering. one tonne heavier than the standard version. Assuming the trials go well, According to Joachim Dürr, chairman of the management board at production is due to start in 2009. That is also when Volvo plans to start MAN’s Neoman bus and coach division, “the diesel-electric hybrid is a production of its parallel diesel-electric hybrid ( Transport Engineer April). clear winner after 2010.” When it was pointed out at Busworld that MAN The next Busworld show in Kortrijk, in 2009, should be mighty seems to be slow in actually delivering a viable hybrid solution, Mr Dürr interesting. K

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28 Transport Engineer November 2007