On Dec 24, 4:20*am, "DW downunder" noname wrote:

Ah, so it's possible the AEC "Q" could be reborn? *

Well I suppose it is also possible that the moon is made of cheese,
the earth is flat and that black is white. The problem, as mentioned
on another group I read, is that side engined vehicles have a very
poor reliability record. Hybrid technology may offer some new options
but that has hardly been a breeze in terms of building reliability.
Ironically it seems the Enviro 400 hybrid (from purely an anecdotal
viewpoint) runs more consistently and reliably that other models - it
also got in to service far faster and with fewer glitches than all
other versions. While I am not criticising Wrights (they did, after
all, provide the first hybrids for London years ago) their models have
taken a lot longer to get in to fleet service and Volvo even longer
still. Both of the single deck routes using Wright Electrocities (129
and 360) have an equivalent number of diesel buses available to cover
for buses conking out or not being available. Not exactly a viable way
forward if you're looking at a potential fleet of 400-600 buses.
Still they may actually exhume the remains of the Volvo Ailsa and have
the engine [1] at the front :-) If Boris had been really brave
he'd have gone for trolleybuses - that would have provided a genuine
legacy and even I might have indulged him in having a specific
"London" design for that.

[1] most engines are either car or van derived so therefore perfectly
suited to front installation. Where you stick the batteries and
driveline are other issues altogether.
--
Paul C
via Google