News from Cummins: Cummins Euro-6 engines have been chosen by manufacturer VDL Bus & Coach for high profile contracts in Finland, Belgium and Germany.
Ashley Watton, Cummins’ Bus Engine Sales Leader for Europe, said, “VDL were very pro-active in their Euro-6 development programme, with an expectation to be ready as early as possible. Our engineers worked closely with them to meet their needs and provide the best all round package in terms of fuel economy and performance. This has helped VDL to deliver a very competitive Euro-6 vehicle.”
During January and February VDL supplied 19 Cummins powered Citeas LLE-120 to Pohjolan Liikenne in Helsinki, Finland. These were the first Euro-6 buses in Finland. Pohjolan Liikenne, is one of the largest Finnish bus companies, operating local, regional and long-distance services with a fleet of 470 buses and coaches mainly in the south of the country. Its vehicles run nearly 30 million kilometres yearly and carry 30 million passengers.
In April Belgian passenger transport company De Lijn ordered a total of 120 VDL Citea SLF-120 Hybrid buses. This is a next-generation serial hybrid bus using a Siemens system with Cummins’ ISB4.5-litre Euro-6 engine. The buses are equipped with a start-stop system which switches off the diesel engine at bus stops and whenever else the bus is at a standstill. They are able to drive off under purely electric power, generating no emissions and much lower noise. Significant fuel savings of 30-35% are achieved compared with a traditional diesel bus.
More recently, Berlin Transport Authority (BVG), ordered 236 VDL Citea buses following intensive field tests. The lightweight vehicles more than proved their worth in the urban traffic of Berlin. BVG operates more than 1,300 buses, transporting 937 million passengers to their destination every year and are the largest operator across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The VDL buses are lightweight yet meet high safety standards and are achieving better fuel economy with lower emissions. According to BVG’s own tests the Citeas consume 20% less fuel than equivalent buses, which reduces running costs and also equates to a reduction of around 18 tonnes of CO2 emissions per vehicle, per year. The Euro 6 solution also cuts NOx emissions by 95%.
“Our Euro-6 products are proving successful in the market place, with excellent feedback from our bus customers,” added Watton.
Cummins’ Euro-6 ISB6.7 diesel engines are available up to 280 ps for buses and 310 ps for coaches, with a strong peak torque of 1100 Nm. The 4-cylinder ISB4.5 engine is available up to 210 ps, with an excellent power to weight ratio and a strong peak torque of 760 Nm.
They both use proven engine technologies of cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and variable geometry turbocharging (VGT). The Cummins VGT is optimised for high torque and low speed capability, delivering significant performance and driveability improvements. The engine works with the latest Cummins designed exhaust aftertreatment technology, combining a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) to meet the ultra-low levels of emissions.
