[Buses in Beijing]福田欧V Foton AUV BJ6123C7C4D <HEV> 北京公交集团 BPT #68132 Front-right at Zizhu Bridge West

An AUV BJ6123C7C4D 12m low floor diesel-electric hybrid city bus built by Foton in Beijing

 

The city of Beijing has a large collection of superstar buses and coaches in the country. Among the latest superstar buses, BJ6123C7C4D is boosting Beijing onto the top of the list for hybrid bus operating city. After the Olympics, Beijing continued its Green Public Transport concept and an 800 hybrid buses contract was put out by BPT. As the leading commercial vehicle manufacturer and the pioneer hybrid bus builder with 30 vehicles operating in Guangzhou, Foton, a Beijing-based corporation, won the 800 vehicles tender. (Note: At first the tender included 500 complete buses and 300 chassis to be completed by Jinghua; however, since Jinghua diminished, 800 complete buses were all designated to be built by Foton.)

 

BJ6123C7C4D shares the same face with BJ6126 series coaches and the tail from some other Foton city buses. The exterior is a pure Chinese design without any similarities with any other buses. Although original, the face is always commented as "innocent" or "confused" by bus fans. The low floor, accessible bus is equipped with wide doors and big windows; due to the sloped windscreen, the twin-leaf front door is of non-symmetrical design, although basically useless. The interior remains identical to those of all new low floor buses in Beijing since 2008. An innovation is the glass which keeps the embarking passengers through the front door completely from invading the driver’s cockpit with heads or arms.

 

BJ6123C7C4D adopts a parallel diesel-electric hybrid system and the essential hybrid system Eaton presents. Propulsion from the Cummins ISBe+225B 225hp Euro IV diesel engines drives the Eaton AMT (Automatic Mechanical Transmission) gearbox. Between the automatic clutch and the gearbox fits a permanent magnetic synchronous motor (PMSM) from Eaton with 44kW peak power and 26kW continuous power. Electricity collected from decelerating and braking is stored in the Li-Mn, non-plug-in-rechargeable battery packs, products of Citic Guoan MGL, beneath the last row of passenger seats instead of on the roof. An Eaton control unit commands the entire hybrid system.

 

The bus is propelled by the motor alone when speed is below 20km/h while the diesel engine takes over the job when speed exceeds. As the result, the bus accelerates from still with a sound very similar to that of an AC trolley-bus. ZF axles provide comfortable rides but unfortunately, due to the AMT gearbox, the gear shifting is not as smoothly as those AT buses do so that passengers are able to feel the presence of the slight dashes. In general, with the advertisements and the working theory introductions posted in and outside the bus, passengers rate BK6123C7C4D a high score.

 

In the picture, Fleet No. 68132 (Division 6, hybrid or dual-power bus, code 132) is proceeding to Zizhu (Purple Banboo) Bridge, a three-level fly-over on the West 3rd Ring Road. Fleet No. 68132 is among the third batch BJ6123C7C4D for Division 3 and 6 in replacement of the retired 1999 BK6111CNG. Small modifications, like the absence of folding seats in the wheelchair area and the outside lamps above the doors, can be observed and people may distinguish the two batches from exterior. Units of the third batch do not have Foton's hybrid technology advertisement outside.

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