San Diego, CA - New Flyer Industries delivered the first new gasoline hybrid 40-foot urban transit bus in Southern California to Long Beach Transit. The pilot bus delivery is the first of 76 in the initial production run to be delivered to Long Beach and other California transit agencies. During 2005, New Flyer will deliver 76 gasoline-electric hybrid heavy-duty buses to six California municipalities. The California transit agencies taking delivery of New Flyer gasoline-electric heavy-duty buses are Long Beach, Orange County, Norwalk, Montebello, Gardena and Fresno.

New Flyer-ISE Gasoline Hybrid 40' Bus

The emissions of the Ford V10 gasoline engine in this application are so low that the California Air Resources Board (CAR) has designated gasoline as an alternative fuel for these urban transit buses. The hybrid technology is projected to save tons of exhaust emissions and reduce the cost of ownership for the operating agencies.

The bus is electrically propelled by Siemens motors and the on board energy storage is two ultracapacitor packs made by ISE from Maxwell Technology ultracapacitor cells. Both the Siemens electrical components and the energy storage may last the life of the vehicle without replacement and practically zero maintenance. Despite the lower energy content of gasoline compared to diesel fuel and the less efficient spark ignition compared to diesel ignition process, the ISE hybrid technology maintains the fuel consumption on a par with the conventional diesel buses being replaced. Long Beach selected the gasoline hybrid technology over compressed natural gas (CNG) fueled buses for being cleaner and requiring less fuel and maintenance.

New Flyer and ISE have been in partnership for several years to develop solutions to meet the California Air Resources Board requirements, and three demonstration buses built for Omnitrans (San Bernardino, CA) in 2002-03 provided substantial learning and insight into fuel economy and durability.

Tom Bartley, Director of Marketing

ISE Corporation
12302 Kerran Street
Poway, CA 92064-6884, USA
Phone: (858) 413-1734
Fax: (858) 413-1733
www.isecorp.com
marketing@isecorp.com