TEXT B A battery-driven bus,
which is not only quiet and pollution-free but competitive with the conventional
bus on cost and performance has been developed by a group of British
companies. The prototype, fifty-passenger single-deck vehicle,
is to go in operation in Manchester shortly, and discussions with the Department
of the Environment are expected to lead to a further batch of twenty going into
regular passenger service in Manchester within two year and possibly in other
cities, including London. Unlike the small government-sponsored
battery bus now undergoing triads in provincial cities, whose tow speed and
range effectively limits it to city-center operation, the new Silent Rider ,with
a range 40 miles between charges and a speed of 40 m. p. h. ,will take its place
with diesel buses for normal urban and sub- urban services. Its
capital cost is higher (about 20,000 pounds compared with 1500 pounds) but lower
maintenance and fuel costs bring it down to fully competitive cost with the
diesel bus over thirteen year without taking into account the environmental
benefits. The Chloride battery group--which is developing it in partnership with
$ELN (South-East Lancashire and North-East Cheshire Passenger Transport
Authority) is confident of a market potential of 400 vehicles a year by
1980. The prototype weighs 16 tons, of which the batteries and
passengers account for each. It has a single set of batteries, which take three
and a half hours to recharge, against the normal eight hours of passenger
traffic. A larger, Mark II version is being designed with two
sets of batteries which can be charged in under a minute. That will allow
low-cost night charging and greater operational flexibility. How many of new Silent Riders were in regular service at the moment