1. Introduction
The adaptation of diesel bus engines to operate with ethanol fuel (ED95) was developed by
the Swedish company Scania. This technology is mature with more than 600 ethanol buses
in operation in several Swedish cities. The ED95 ethanol fuel used in diesel engines consists
of 95% ethanol and 5% of an additive with ignition improvement characteristics. The currently
used additive Etamax D is produced by the Swedish company SEKAB.
The present demonstration activities in the framework of the BEST project build upon a
previous experience in São Paulo in 1997, when a complete ethanol bus (chassis and body)
was imported from Sweden. This first test on ethanol buses in Brazil was very successful
with respect to environmental performance and the reduction of pollutant emissions.
However, the economic feasibility could not be proven as operation costs of the imported
ethanol bus were significantly higher than for regular diesel buses.
Within the BEST project it was therefore decided to construct a “typical” Brazilian bus with an
imported ethanol engine and chassis from Sweden. Due to the reduced weight of the ethanol
bus and the more favourable ethanol/diesel price ratio in 2008/2009 as compared to 1997, a
competitive operation of ethanol buses in São Paulo is foreseen.
In order to guarantee the success of the BEST demonstration activities and to provide the
ground for a future large-scale implementation of ethanol buses in Brazil, a cooperation
agreement with a large variety of important Brazilian and European stakeholders was signed
in December 2008. In the following, the cooperation partners are listed indicating their main
involvement in the project:
· CENBIO: Supervision of BEST activities in Brazil
· SCANIA do Brazil: Provision of ethanol bus engine and chassis
· SEKAB, Sweden: Provision of fuel additive
· UNICA: Provision of ethanol
· COPERSUCAR: Importation of the first batch of ethanol fuel with additive
· PETROBRAS: Importation of fuel additive
· BR Distributor: Blending of ethanol with additive and distribution of ED95
· MARCOPOLO: Manufacturing of ethanol bus
· EMTU: Nomination of concessionary company to operate ethanol bus
· SPtrans: Operation of ethanol bus
The tests with ethanol buses in Brazil will evaluate fuel consumption, maintenance and
involved costs during an operation period of 2 years. In order to gain objective outcomes,
results of the test will be compared with tests on an equivalent reference diesel bus.
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