Natural gas: buses save tons of CO2

BGU's vehicle fleet comprises a total of 16 buses. Of these, 13 are CNG buses and three are newer diesel vehicles. BGU is procuring five new buses to replace a diesel bus built in 2004 and four CNG buses built in 2009.

850,000 kilometers on the speedometer
The vehicles each have an average of 850,000 kilometers on the clock, which means they have each driven around the world 20 times. The tender for the new buses explicitly calls for hybrid vehicles and was placed in the official gazette of the canton of Solothurn in September. A CNG hybrid was delivered by manufacturer Mercedes only recently - the last vehicle from a 2015 tender.

Electric drive as starting aid
In addition to the CNG drive, the Mercedes Citaro NGT Hybrid has additional electric motors. These are powered by the energy recuperated during braking.
The electric drive is primarily a starting aid, as the CNG buses are somewhat less efficient in the low speed range than diesel-powered buses. The hybrid system also brings fuel savings of up to 8.5 percent compared with the pure CNG drive.

Climate-relevant emissions
If you convert the fuel consumption of a bus with an assumed performance of 85,000 kilometers per year into CO2 emissions, this amounts to 95.94 tons of CO2. Of this, 76.73 metric tons are climate-relevant (20 percent biogas will be counted as of January 1). With a hybrid bus, the climate-relevant emissions are reduced to 70.19 tons. Grenchen has had nothing but good experiences with CNG buses. And not only there: the neighbors of the Olten Gösgen Gäu bus company also drive with CNG. They will be testing the new Mercedes Citaro Hybrid for a few days before it goes into service in Grenchen.

cng-mobility.ch