All over the world, the transformation of electric cars continues at a rapid pace. But there is also a big structuring on the commercial side. Because even Tesla introduced electric truck and truck models in the past years. In Turkey, we have seen domestic companies that provide similar transformations for metrobus and bus lines. Then electric and hybrid minibuses appeared. Now, Mercedes-Benz Turk has introduced the Conecto hybrid bus, which has domestic R&D and production.
What does Mercedes-Benz Turk promise with Conecto hybrid?
Mercedes-Benz Türk introduced its new Conecto hybrid buses at the event attended by ShiftDelete.Net’s automobile editor Mert Yıldırım. This vehicle, whose project management is carried out by the R&D team of Mercedes-Benz Türk, is produced in the Hoşdere factory.
The buses we see today provide fuel savings of up to 6.5 percent compared to their Euro 6 diesel engine predecessors. This may seem like a small ratio when considering passenger cars. However, it will make a big difference in the medium and long term for buses that travel millions of kilometers and are used for urban passenger transportation.
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Of course, the issue here is not only fuel economy. Because it is also of great importance for environmentalism. Mercedes, on the other hand, says that when buses with this new hybrid technology travel 80 thousand kilometers, an average of 5.2 tons of CO2 is prevented from being released into the environment.
When we apply this data to buses reaching an average of 1-2 million km, and if we consider that there are more than 6 thousand large public transportation vehicles in Istanbul alone, we can better understand its real potential. However, it should not be forgotten that in the long run, these vehicles will be replaced by electric versions.
If we take a closer look at the structure of the Conecto hybrid model, which is different from its predecessor, we see that the electric motor inside the vehicle works continuously with the diesel engine. Just like in cars, it stores the energy generated when the brake is pressed and the foot is taken off the gas by transferring it to the capacitors placed on the roof of the bus.
The energy stored here supports the internal combustion engine at the moment of departure of the vehicle. In fact, the idea behind the design is hidden here. Because this technology, which will not work in intercity buses, makes a big difference for buses that stop and go in urban traffic.
Another good news is that the lifetime of the batteries in the roof is expected to be the same as the lifetime of the vehicle. Moreover, there are no additional maintenance costs. So a win-win situation applies in every scenario.
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