Seattle Going Green with GM Hybrid-Powered Buses

By Mark Forsythe The Kansas City Post In my previous article, some commenters questioned the viability of hybrid-drive. Some implied it is unproven or without precedent in a transit environment. As if on queue, today this little gem flashed across my news feed: Seattle, Washington [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Seattle's municipal area, King County, was awarded a contract for the purchase of up to 500 articulated buses, most of which will be powered by General Motors' 2-mode hybrid system. The five-year contract, which could be worth $400 million, is between King County and bus-manufacturer New Flyer Industries. General Motors supplies New Flyer with the hybrid system for the buses. King County has been operating a fleet of 214 GM hybrid-powered buses since 2004 and, with the addition of this contract, King County could have a total of 714 buses. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) one-year comparative study of King County's hybrid buses endorses GM's 2-mode hybrid propulsion system. The full study can be found here but be warned. It's lengthy, technical and there aren't any pretty pictures. Better to wait for a night you're having trouble getting to sleep before tackling it. The really interesting thing to me is the involvement of the NREL. You know what that means? Grants! As a city we already get grants for our Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles that the Water Department runs. It's not inconceivable that we could get a little grant money to offset the cost of our ULRVs because we're using "green" technology.