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18/04/2012
Formula 1 Flywheel Technology To Be Trialed On London Buses
A fuel-saving device developed for Formula One is to be fitted to six prototype buses.
With estimated fuel savings of up to 30% the flywheel was developed by Williams F1, for use in its racing cars but after a regulation change in the sport it could no longer be used. Now the technology is to be retrofitted to a small test number of London buses.
If successful, and contingent on raising the funding, Go-Ahead, the company which owns the buses, says it will consider fitting the flywheels across its 4,000-strong fleet of buses.
"The fuel consumption savings being predicted are attractive even at the lower estimates of around 10%-15%," said Phil Margrave, Go-Ahead's group engineering director.
“Within three months of the trail starting, we'll know if this technology is right for us. There have been lots of flywheel trials over the years, but for various reasons they have failed. Twenty years ago, one came on the market, but it was too noisy and this concerned passengers.
"The price of fuel is what's driving the interest in this now. If the payback can be shown to be under five years, we might even retrofit flywheels on buses that are already 10 years old."
A flywheel works by storing rotational energy. Their use in vehicles though has been hindered by the fact that they need to be very heavy to store enough energy that can be of practical use.
(H)
With estimated fuel savings of up to 30% the flywheel was developed by Williams F1, for use in its racing cars but after a regulation change in the sport it could no longer be used. Now the technology is to be retrofitted to a small test number of London buses.
If successful, and contingent on raising the funding, Go-Ahead, the company which owns the buses, says it will consider fitting the flywheels across its 4,000-strong fleet of buses.
"The fuel consumption savings being predicted are attractive even at the lower estimates of around 10%-15%," said Phil Margrave, Go-Ahead's group engineering director.
“Within three months of the trail starting, we'll know if this technology is right for us. There have been lots of flywheel trials over the years, but for various reasons they have failed. Twenty years ago, one came on the market, but it was too noisy and this concerned passengers.
"The price of fuel is what's driving the interest in this now. If the payback can be shown to be under five years, we might even retrofit flywheels on buses that are already 10 years old."
A flywheel works by storing rotational energy. Their use in vehicles though has been hindered by the fact that they need to be very heavy to store enough energy that can be of practical use.
(H)
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