A new 30-foot, 26 passenger bus – made entirely of lightweight “composite” materials and powered by a hybrid electric-natural gas drive system – created by a Warren company has been making the rounds of trade shows over the past few weeks. TPI Composites officially rolled out two versions of the bus – the 30-footer and a 40-footer – at an international transportation industry conference in Toronto last month, according to a spokesman from the Warren-based company. “We had a tremendous response to both,” said Kirt Banal, a TPI project engineer.
And early last week the smaller bus made a two-day appearance at the Northeast Composites Conference in Portland, Maine. That conference was a showcase for products made entirely of composite materials, which are essentially laminated materials that do not include steel or aluminum.
The buses have garnered much attention since the design was officially unveiled at a March ceremony in Warren, including a feature story in the New York Times.
The TPI bus was the only automobile on display at the Portland conference, said Banal, who attended that event. Other displays included sea kayaks and a bicycle frame. TPI actually brought the bus to Maine so one of its primary suppliers, Brunswick Technologies, could show off one of the products its materials are used in.
TPI’s bus is made of Fiberglass, plastic resin and two core materials, including balsa wood, according to Banal. The chassis, which is the frame upon which the bus sits, doesn’t even include steel or aluminum, he said. TPI engineers believe the composite chassis is a first of its kind.
”You still can maintain the strength that steel or aluminum has but it’s lighter,” Banal explained.
At about 16,000 pounds the 30-foot bus weighs roughly 5,000 pounds less than steel buses the same size, he said. By being lighter the bus is more fuel efficient and more environmentally friendly.
“It’s less weight that it’s moving around,” Banal said. “The other benefit of the composites is they will not corrode like steel; you get a longer life.”
But they are more expensive than the traditional steel versions, he said. TPI executives, however, figure the more expensive price tag is justified by lower maintenance costs and a longer life cycle.
Most transit authorities try to get about 10 years out of a bus, while TPI engineers estimate that the composite buses will last for about 15 to 20 years, he explained.
“The advantages of the hybrid composite bus are numerous,” stated Steve Misencik, TPI’s new development project manager, in a press release. “It provides transit authorities with lower operating, maintenance and capital costs while also reducing harmful emissions – about 58 percent less carbon dioxide than a diesel model in conventional buses. The bus runs on about half the horsepower a compact car needs.”
North American Bus Industries, an Alabama-based supplier of transit buses, has signed a $6 million contract to buy composite bodies, tooling and technical support for a combination of 30, 40 and 45-foot buses, according to a statement issued by Brunswick Technologies. Banal said right now TPI is working on producing 40-foot buses – which is the traditional size bus now used by RIPTA – for NABI. It is not known yet how many of the smaller buses NABI will order.
The model displayed in Portland was scheduled to be delivered to Logan International Airport in Boston after the show, where it will be used as a terminal shuttle.
TPI constructs the body of the buses, then ships them to a NABI facility in Alabama where the engine components are added and the vehicle is then pieced together, Banal explained.
