Several Months’ Field Test to be Carried Out and Delivery Upon Successful Completion of Test to Drive Along the Bus Lines Run by Kowloon Motor Bus

The energy-saving and environmentally-friendly “Made in Shanghai” super-capacitor buses will hopefully be put into the bus operations in Hong Kong. The journalist learnt yesterday from the Bus Group that the first super-capacitor bus had recently been sent out through the Customs to Hong Kong for field test at Kowloon Bus, which would last for a couple of months. Upon successful completion of the test, the buses of such type will be recommended for extensive services along the bus lines run by Kowloon Motor Bus.

To remove those trolley bus cables that densely crossed through overhead like spider web, which appeared to be a negative side of the urban appearance of Shanghai, the self-dominant R&D focusing on the technologies of the super-capacitor vehicles began in 2002, with a trial passenger-carrying operation along a trolley bus route carried out on December 18, 2002. In August, 2006, the commercial exemplary operations with a total of 10 super-capacitor buses were carried out along the inner circle of Line 11. In April, 2008, the 17 operating buses of Line 11 were upgraded completely with the super-capacitor buses. For this year’s Shanghai Expo, a total of 61 super-capacitor buses have been put into operation along the Expo Boulevard Line, one of the major bus lines in the Expo Site. Ever since the opening of the Expo Site, the super-capacitor buses operated by the Bus Group have run over 640,000 kilometers, served accumulatively over 188,000 shifts and carried nearly 20 million passengers. In the meantime, these buses have experienced such multiple challenges as super large passenger flow of over half a million people having emerged for several times, the bad weather featuring continuous extremely high temperature, and multiple thunderstorms and windstorms etc.

During their trip to the Expo, the Hong Kong Government Delegation was so much fascinated by the super-capacitor buses running along the Expo Boulevard that they particularly made investigations in-depth about such issues as the vehicle operation, charging performance and operating cost etc. Later on, the Hong Kong Government decided that field test with such vehicles shall be conducted first of all at Kowloon Bus.

 In July, the technicians of the Project Team of Shanghai Modern Transportation Construction and Development Co., Ltd. went to Hong Kong for the installation and commissioning of the power supply equipment of the super-capacitor buses. Before long, a super-capacitor bus manufactured by Shanghai Sun Win was delivered through the customs to Hong Kong for initial test of charged operation, which was completed successfully and recognized with appreciation by Kowloon Bus Motor. As introduced, the super-capacitor bus sent to Hong Kong for field test has utilized a single-unit charging system, which has been applied to the field of charging electric bus the first time ever and realized the diversified power supply modes for super-capacitor bus. The whole course of test will last for a couple of months, with the super-capacitor bus’s performance under the worst Hong Kong weather to be tested and appraised in detail.
 
——Excerpts from Jiefang Daily  August 31, 2010