Design of an E-bus for Crosstown Operation on 42nd Street in New York City

An E-bus, originally designed in 1967 for crosstown operation on 42nd Street, New York City, has its design brought up-to-date. Nickel-cadmium batteries were to be used with INCH* (INterim CHarging) at both ends of the route. The technologies available at that time made a demonstration project prohibitively expensive. Many aspects of the design have been used in successful E-bus demonstrations since 1971 in Europe. One of these projects is the basis of much of the updated design.

Many of the technical aspects of the 1967 design which were then experimental, are now proven. Some of these are: over-excited shunt instead of series motors; a transistorized field chopper plus a thyristor armature chopper; regenerative braking; automatic and shock-proof connection to the battery-charging terminals; single point watering, and INCH.

Calculations indicate that with Na/S batteries, E-buses can be used on north-south routes, with 2 interim charges of five minutes each.