Client: EU
Partners: Siemens TS, Imperial College of London, Vossloh Kiepe, Centre for Concepts in Mechatronics
End: 2005
Environmentally friendly regional passenger transport systems are under consideration world-wide. Because of the high cost of electrification, diesel powered vehicles are in many cases the only alternative. Frequent stop/start cycles result in high levels of emissions and reduced energy efficiency (e.g. wastage of braking energy), rendering the diesel engine unattractive for much of the commuter transport. It is therefore clear that the solution to these short-comings is a clean and efficient prime mover unit augmented with an energy storage unit in a hybrid con-figuration as a replacement to the diesel electric vehicle.
ULEV-TAP II transfers the technical expertise from ULEV-TAP I (where the hybrid technology was successfully demonstrated with an old Karlsruhe service tram) to a modern light rail vehicle – the Siemens AVANTO.
The envisaged demonstration of a refitted AVANTO was aban-doned due to serious budget cuts by the EU. Instead all components where built to meet the restrictions of an implementation on an AVANTO:
After the project’s end all components are ready for implementation. They meet the defined specifications concerning size and weight. Performance and reliability of all components have been proved. Fuel consumption was reduced by 42 % compared to a conventional diesel-electric vehicle.
For further information see www.ulev-tap-org.
Ultra Low Emission Vehicle - Transport using Advanced Propulsion 2