This week, IDTechEx is attending the extensive IAA show in Hannover Germany , primarily concerned with buses and trucks and their parts, and the linked Electric Mobility Congress. Here are our first impressions of the exhibition.
It is large, extending over 12 large halls and with outside attractions as well. Those halls concerned with the vehicles are well attended: those concerned with parts and services less so on the first day we were there. There is only about one hybrid or pure electric bus for every twenty buses exhibited and the figure is much worse for trucks because they have less stop-start so hybrid powertrains reportedly only save 5-10% of fuel, giving an unimpressive payback on their high upfront price.
By contrast, 30-35% fuel saving is reported by exhibitors for hybrid buses, with the up-front price premium being 60-100% according to exhibitors. Some claim only three years payback. Not long ago, hybrid buses only saved 25% of fuel and paybacks were reportedly in the eight year range, sales depending mainly on national and local governments wanting to be seen to be green and wanting to reduce local pollution, the payback not being the driver of the deal.
Most of the innovation seemed to be coming from outside Germany. For example, Polish family firm Solaris continued to surprise. Bombardier of Canada is impressive with contactless charging so there is "no need for hybrid city buses": it has a substantial activity in Germany.
The logic has been inverted that buses first become viable in pure electric mode when small. Several exhibitors showed 30+ seater buses that are pure electric, stating that they are shunning smaller pure electric versions because, "They are not viable".
Another trend is to multi-propulsion platforms. This means much more than offering one platform as anything from a tram to a pure electric bus depending on purchaser preference. Nowadays hideous catenaries are increasingly banned from city centers and trolley buses need to escape when terrorists blast the cables. They therefore have such things as "bridging" hybrid or battery pure electric functions. Other buses can be easily adapted in drive train function to suite a different route such as a mountainous or inter-city one.
