Technical and economic evaluation of dual-mode trolleybus national programmes

Directorate-General For Research And Innovation European Commission Directorate-General For The Information Society And Media Directorate-General For Mobility And Transport

Description

Environmental research

Sujets

• Electric vehicle
• Energy conservation
• Transport economics
• COST ? European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research

Informations

• Publié par: DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-RESEARCH-AND-INNOVATION-EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Èúk.- >o S&3
COST
transport research
COST 303
TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION
OF
DUAL-MODE TROLLEYBUS NATIONAL PROGRAMMES
Final report
and
summary of the Brussels seminar on
dual-mode trolleybuses
EUR 10993 EN CEC COST
transport research
COST 303
TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION
OF
DUAL-MODE TROLLEYBUS NATIONAL PROGRAMMES
Final report
and
summary of the Brussels seminar on
dual-mode trolleybuses
Edited by:
F. Fabre, A. Klose
Commission of the European Communities
Directorate-General Transi
Directorate-General 'Science, Research
1987 Published by the
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Directorate-General
Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation
Bâtiment Jean Monnet
LUXEMBOURG
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the Commission of the European Communities nor any person acting
on behalf of then is responsible for the use which might be made
of the following information
This publication is also available in the following languages:
DE ISBN 92-825-7002-9
FR ISBN 92-825-7004-5
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1987
ISBN 92-825-7003-7 Catalogue number: CD-NA-10993-EN-C
© ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels • Luxembourg, 1987
Printed in Belgium CONTENTS
Pages
INTRODUCTION V
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
XI
THEME 1 : Comparative description of the systems 1
THEME 2 : Measures for performance evaluations of dual-mode 15
trolleybuses
THEME 3 : Reliability and maintenance 45
THEME 4 : Safety and standardisation aspects9
THEME 5 : Electricity supply 53
THEME 6 : Economic study7
THEME 7 : Socio-economic evaluation 75
THEME 8 : General conclusions 81
ANNEX I : Future of the dual-mode trolleybus 8
ANNEX II : The seminar. 10INTRODUCTION
1. Background and objectives for COST Project 303
In the wake of the second oil shock, many European countries began to think
about reviving electric propulsion systems for public transport vehicles.
Light metro systems, modern tramways, trolleybuses and electric buses all
enjoyed a resurgence of interest, amplified by the environmental problems
emerging in town and city centres at around the same time.
In the specific case of the trolleybus revival, almost all industrialists
and governments agreed that the dual-mode trolleybus was the answer.
Obviously, before this 1930s mode of transport could be revived in the
'80s, a way would have to be found, as far as technically feasible, to
overcome its severest handicap, i.e. its inflexibility: conventional trol­
leybuses are inseparable from their overhead wires and are powerless the
moment any outside disturbances hamper operations. Dual-mode trolleybuses,
with a second power supply, transform the vehicle into a genuinely modern,
efficient transport system.
They share the undisputed advantages of electric trolleybus propulsion
systems (low energy costs, convenience, efficiency, long vehicle life, etc)
but escape the disadvantages.
They can operate without overhead wires wherever expedient (e.g. in town
centres for aesthetic reasons, on outlying lines and at depots for cost
reasons and at complex road junctions for a combination of both) and use
wires only on stretches where they will be best used (i.e. stretches
shared by several different routes, inclines, etc.).
They also considerably boost system availability in the event of blockages
en route (roadworks, accidents, etc.), electricity failures (powercuts or
strikes) or breakdowns of the electric drive system.
Several European countries had therefore embarked on programmes to develop
dual-mode trolleybuses or were about to do so. Since 1975, ten or more
prototype dual-mode trolleybuses have been built in Europe.
The vehicles were built to very similar operating specifications even
though their technological designs were often far apart.
Consequently, this was an ideal case for joint Europe-wide discussion to
analyse each of the ongoing programmes and accumulate, from them, the
evidence needed for any decision on whether to go ahead with dual-mode
trolleybus systems.
One other objective was to identify, from the evidence available, any
further research needed to promote the development of this new mode of
public transport and to propose European recommendations and, in particu­
lar, standards to facilitate exportation of this product, despite its
limited short-term market. This was the task entrusted to­the COST Project 303 Management Committee
in September 1981 by eight European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), all of which
were at a more or less advanced stage of develooing the dual­mode trolley­
bus.
As the name suggests, COST Project 303 fits into the European Cooperation
in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST) scheme between the
Community Member States and seven other European countries.
COST Project 303 is a "concerted action project", i.e. not jointly financed.
Projects in this category are conducted and funded by the governments and
national authorities concerned. The Commission of the European Communities
is responsible for coordination and dissemination of the results.
Originally the work was scheduled to last three years. But this had to be
extended for one year, as the plans for some of the vehicles were one year
behind the timetable for the project itself.
2. Organisation
1) Vehicles evaluated
The evaluation programme drafted by the Technical Subcommittee was annexed
to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the eight governments partici­
pating in COST Project 303. This programme outlined the work to be done by
the Management Committee and specifically provided for a technical and eco­
nomic evaluation of each prototype available, a "first" in such a European
project.
It soon become clear that a single set of measuring instruments operated
by the same team was the only way to produce uniform, genuinely comparable
results from the same test programme. ■ ■
This objective was attained thankstothe skilled, highly dedicated ATM
team from the Milan public transportnetwork, which conducted all the tests
and provided the COST 303 Project with a data acquisition system ideally
suited to the task.
Nine vehicles were measured:
­ One conventional articulated bus and one conventional articulated trol­
leybus as reference vehicles for the economic study.
­ In Germany, two prototype articulated vehicles ­the Daimler Benz 0305 GTD
(with GT0 chopper) and the MAN SG 240 H ­ tested on their usual route in
Essen, where guided trolleybuses and trams share the same track.
­ In France, the Renault Véhicules Industriels series­produced PER 180 arti­
culated dual­mode vehicle, measured at Nancy, where a fleet of 48 vehicles
is on the road, and then at St Etienne.
­ The Belgian Van Hool­ACEC AG 280 T prototype was tested at its test site
in Esslingen in Germany, for want of a trolleybus network in Belgium at
the time.
­VI­- In Finland, the standard Strömberg SWS prototype powered by an asynchro-
nus engine was tested in Helsinki.
Although, strictly speaking, this vehicle's independent engine is not
powerful enough for the vehicle to qualify as a dual-mode vehicle, the
model was evaluated none the less because of the promise shown by the
asynchronous propulsion system.
- Finally, in Italy, the Mauri articulated prototype vehicle, with its
hydrostatic transmission system, and Fiat's IVECO 471 BM which is both
a dual-mode and a hybrid vehicle using SAFT cadmium-nickel batteries to
smooth out power consumption peaks on starting and to recover the energy
discharged on braking (regenerative braking) when operating in the trol­
leybus or off-wire modes.
2) Topics studied
Seven topics were chosen and distributed between the countries represented
on the Management Committee, as follows:
Topic 1; Comparative description of the existing systems (Denmark and
Germany).
This catalogue of all dual-mode trolleybuses built in Europe over
the last ten years sets out the principal technical data on each
of the vehicles described above.
Topic 2: Technical evaluation (Italy)
A team from the Milan ATM network conducted nine separate series
of measurements, each lasting on average, three days. At each, the
ATM team was assisted by an observer from a country other than that
that in which the vehicle was made, who judged whether the test
satisfied the specified measuring conditions and was empowered to
disqualify any test which did not. Consequently, every possible
precaution was taken to produce readings beyong dispute.
Most of the measurements concerned vehicle performance and consump­
tion in the electric and i/c modes, under no load conditions in
every case.
The specifications for the measurements were defined so that they
could be used directly in the economic study.