Diesel Electric?

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Facts
  1. Purchasing a new diesel/electric hybrid 17 tonne bus raises the cost from, typically £150,000 for a normal bus, to between £210,000 and £220,000 at least.1
  2. In the UK, average fuel savings per bus per year amount to c. £3,000.2
  3. Battery pack life varies between 2 to 5 years provided that no malfunction results in a drained battery.1
  4. Therefore the payback period in the UK starts at 20 years, and could be 30 years or more.2
  5. Of the 1,000 diesel electric buses and trucks running in the USA and Europe, we know of not one that has been bought by normal competitive tender - all have been subsidised.3
  6. Diesel/electric buses are showing many of the benefits that hybrid buses can produce

Conclusion
bulletDiesel/Electric buses do not make straight commercial sense for bus operators - they are available, and can make a valid contribution to urban bus operations, but cannot remain as a long term proposition without subsidies

References

 1 Bus 2007 Conference 18th September 2007, IMechE

2 Kestrel research

3  http://www.eesi.org/publications/....Hybridbusfactsheet_final.PDF