The West Australian government announced in mid-2020 that it would trial four of Volvo’s all-electric buses in 2022, and it seems that the BZL Electric is the result of that agreement. The new Volvo BZL Electric was then to be handed over to the Western Australian Public Transport Authority (PTA), the first customer nationally to be operating the Volvo BZL. Options include CCS charging with max charge power of 150kW located on the rear side of the bus, as well as rooftop charging with a max charge power of 300kW thanks to OppCharge integration which allows for fast charging at stops such as bus stops. However, the charging options on Volvo BZL Electric buses are impressive. Unfortunately, Volvo has not yet provided a range number. The lithium-ion batteries on the BZL electric buses boast a capacity of up to 470kWh powering either one or two 200kW motors. Volvo Buses and Stena Recycling subsidiary Batteryloop will seek to give Volvo bus batteries a “second life” by using them as energy storage units where the capacity limitations that develop over time, and act as a hindrance for an electric vehicle, are nevertheless more than sufficient for static energy storage operations. “Working together with Keolis has given us this unique opportunity to test an autonomous bus in real conditions and will help us drive the development of autonomous solutions forward.Part of Volvo’s commitment to sustainable electric vehicle battery management is its recent partnership with Sweden’s Stena Recycling, one of Europe’s leading electronics recyclers. “We are still many years away from seeing fully autonomous buses on public roads, but since bus depots are confined areas with predictable and repetitive traffic flows, we see autonomous buses being used there much sooner,” Agnevall added. The majority of which are Genuine Volvo Parts. We supply and fit over 1.5 million new and exchange parts in a year. Call us to ask for information on the latest stocks and prices. But this vehicle category offers a major opportunity for the world’s biggest bus manufacturer to steal a lead in self-driving transport. At Volvo Truck And Bus Centre North & Scotland we will give you exactly the vehicles you need, from new trucks and certified used trucks. Volvo recently committed to reporting its autonomous truck financials from 2020, giving shareholders greater insight into how the company is monetizing its driverless vehicle technologies. They offered extremely comfortable travel, primarily attributed to location of engine at rear and extremely well built body with very low NVH Noise, Vibrarion and Harshness characteristics and a great suspension. It’s all about using predefined routes and repetitive flows, similar to what Volvo Trucks has been doing with its various commercial endeavors in the self-driving truck sphere, which have included transporting materials from mines, helping sugarcane farmers in Brazil improve their crop yield, and collecting garbage. Intercity bus transportation got redefined with the entry of premium rear engine coaches like Volvo in the early 2000. But the trial serves as further evidence that autonomous transport will seep slowly into society through industry-specific use cases. The bus isn’t ready for prime time quite yet, and neither Volvo nor Keolis has indicated when the bus might be rolled out to working depots. Volvo has carried out a number of autonomous bus demonstrations before, but this latest one, which took place at a Keolis’ depot outside of Gothenburg, was among the first to occur in a real bus depot.