One of my readers sent me the picture above of a new Citybus thats currently on the road. What caught my attention was the fact it had solar panels on the roof and the message “735w solar cells” on the side. I thought Citybus might finally be getting some new hybrid buses, that is buses that run on fossil fuel and clean electric power. So I gave Citybus a call to find out if that was the case and it sadly turns out it wasn’t.
The bus pictured above is currently being weather tested for the local market and is by the Irish company Wright. It’s not a hybrid but a regular diesel vehicle. According to the person I spoke to, the solar panels are just there to recharge the bus batteries and is not for any energy saving purposes. Oh well that was a downer. I was hoping this was the first step in eradicating the horribly polluting buses currently on the roads. Looks like that’s not going to happen.
