Power sources for hybrid buses: comparative evaluation of the state of theart

Due to their beneficial effect on environment, electric vehicles are an imp ortant factor for the improvement of urban traffic and, more particularly, for a healthier living environment. A particularly promising field of appli cation is the hybrid-electric city bus, which offers unprecedented opportun ities for reducing energy consumption and emissions. Nowadays, various hybr id bus configurations are being proposed and are being demonstrated in seve ral European cities with the support of the European Union's 'Thermie' prog ramme. The most important hybrid bus project within Thermie is the Sagittai re project [EU Thermie Project Sagittaire, Newsletter 2, September 1998; EU Thremie project Sagittaire, unpublished documents], aiming to introduce hy brid buses in nine European cities: Luxembourg, Besancon, Alicante, Sintra, Stavanger, Trento, Savona, Athens and Bruges. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S. A. All rights reserved.