Scania continues cautious steps towards a zero-emission future, but its plans, including for the coach market, are firming up, the manufacturer told interested parties in June.
In coaches, zero-emission will come from 2028 onwards. In addition to battery-electric power – which is set for the UK in the medium term in the Fencer bus range – the OEM has floated the potential of hydrogen fuel cell-electric power for coach to sit alongside batteries.
Scania UK already has a zero-emission Fencer f1 in build. That battery-electric bus is expected to arrive here towards the end of 2022 and begin demonstration early next year. It will have the same driveline that is already used in the Citywide.
Production battery-electric Fencer models for the UK will have a next generation of batteries. Cells for those will be manufactured by Northvolt using clean energy. There will be plenty of cells to go round coach and bus; Northvolt’s target for annual production by 2030 is 150GW/h. Scania has a stake in the Swedish business and the vehicle OEM will use those cells to produce batteries.
Globally, Scania continues its focus on biofuels, although their attractiveness in the UK, and particularly the bus segment, is waning. But reducing its vehicles’ carbon footprints can be done in other ways. Among those is cutting fuel consumption. That is something that Scania has achieved on its coach range with the debut of a latest-generation platform and the Irizar i6S Efficient body.
From a chassis point of view, weight has been removed, while the Opticruise automated manual gearbox used now has 12 ratios as standard with a revised shift programme. Scania says that will deliver a 6% reduction in fuel use.
The latest-generation chassis is already in service in the UK and it can be ordered in combination with Irizar, MOBIpeople and Caetano bodies and as part of the Touring product – but not with the Interlink, of which production has ceased.
Overhauled on the latest coach and bus chassis range is the driver’s area.
Ergonomics have been improved, including combination of the steering wheel and the dash binnacle into one adjustable unit. Bodybuilders receive either a complete dash or an incomplete one, depending on their wish to add their own buttons and such.
Further change will follow for the coach chassis range when the Super driveline arrives. That consists of a new iteration of the DC13 engine coupled to an updated Opticruise gearbox and it is already available in trucks. The OEM promises additional efficiency gains when Super comes to coach.
Click here for more on the Scania Irizar i6S Efficient. Click here for more on the latest Euro VI diesel Scania Fencer f1.
