Top awards in the Sustainable Bus Awards 2019 scheme were presented at the IAA commercial vehicle show Hannover last month to Iveco, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.
This scheme, masterminded by Italy’s Vado e Torno magazine, involves leading bus and coach magazines from seven European countries.
Iveco’s 18-metre Crealis electric bus wins the “urban” category for its IMC (In Motion Charging) system, combining trolley-bus-style overhead power lines with a small on-board battery pack.
The Mercedes Citaro with a hybrid (diesel/electric) driveline takes first prize in the “intercity” category. The Citaro’s small electric motor (14kW) comes from the Mercedes-Benz car range. In the Citar,o bus it sits between a 7.7-litre, 260kW diesel engine and a conventional, fully automatic (torque converter) automatic gearbox, from Voith or ZF. The Citaro is claimed to be the first hybrid bus of its kind to forsake the usual high-voltage electrical system employed by heavy-duty hybrids and instead employ a 48-volt system, again like Mercedes cars.
The winner of the “coach” category of the Sustainable Bus Awards 2019 is Volvo’s 9900. Features that impressed the judges here include high levels of passenger comfort, low drag coefficient, the latest Volvo “dynamic steering” system, and improved driver field of vision, courtesy mainly of an additional window in the front door.
Truck of the Year awards
In separate awards for trucks and vans presented at the Hannover show, a new truck range built in Turkey by the Ford/Otosan joint venture that has been manufacturing all Ford Transit light commercial vehicles since Ford’s Southampton plant was shut five years ago, has been voted “International Truck of the Year 2019”.
The F-Max truck has an all-new sleeper cab, a 12.7-litre Ford diesel engine, rated at 500hp, and a ZF twelve-speed TraXon automated manual gearbox.
“With the introduction of F-Max, Ford Trucks has delivered a fine engineered tractor that can be a meaningful new player in the highly-competitive segment of long-haul transport,” says Gianenrico Griffini, chairman of the International Truck of the Year jury.
