The Volvo B10BLE was a rear-engined low-entry

single-decker bus A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which ...

chassis manufactured by

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

in Sweden between 1993 and 2004. The first prototypes were built in 1992, but mass production started in 1993, only a year after the

high-floor High-floor describes the interior flooring of commuter vehicles primarily used in public transport such as trains, light rail cars and other rail vehicles, along with buses and trolleybuses. Interior floor height is generally measured above the ...

B10B. It was popular in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. It had the engine mounted on the rear overhang of the bus. It became the successor of the

city bus A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

version of the B10B and was used as a base for

es worldwide. The B10BLE was available in diesel powered format, and later in a

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in ...

powered format with the fuel tanks on the roof of the bus. Its

low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

design was widely promoted by Volvo when it was first launched, on the basis of added convenience to the passengers, and the increase in transport efficiency due to the low-floor design. The production of the diesel powered variants ended in 2001 to give way for B7RLE and B12BLE, while the CNG variants were produced until 2004. In the

market,

unsuccessfully tried to replace the B10BLE with the B7L in 2001, but realised that it was not as popular among the customers and offered the B7RLE from 2003. This situation was similar to B10L one, which was replaced by B10BLE in 1997, three years after B10L was introduced here and also due to limited success.

Specifications

The Volvo B10BLE features a Volvo DH10A engine with a displacement of . It is an inline six-cylinder

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either direct ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-cal ...

with a

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

and

intercooler An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines. Internal combustion engines ...

. This engine used a

dry sump A dry-sump system is a method to manage the lubricating motor oil in four-stroke and large two-stroke piston driven internal combustion engines. The dry-sump system uses two or more oil pumps and a separate oil reservoir, as opposed to a con ...

system due to being horizontally mounted. The engine has a power output of either . The engine is able to meet Euro II emissions limits. The name of the chassis stands for: *B - Bus *10 - 10 (9.6) litre engine *B - Back/Rear mounted engine *LE - Low-entry Optionally available is a Volvo GH10-series (GH10A, GH10B, GH10C)

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...

engine. All generations of this engine are inline four-stroke six-cylinder spark-ignition engines with a turbocharger and intercooler. The GH10A and GH10B engines were lean-burn engines and the GH10C is a "mixed-lean" engine, operating on an optimised balance between stoichiometric and lean-burn combustion strategies. Power ratings vary from in the GH10A to in the uprated version of the GH10C. The GH10C is able to meet Euro IV emissions limits.

Operators

Australia

In Australia, Sydney Buses purchased 125,

Westbus Westbus was an Australian bus and coach operator that operated bus services in Western Sydney from 1955 until October 2013. Founded by the Bosnjak family, it later became a subsidiary of National Express and later ComfortDelGro Cabcharge (now ...

41 and

Grenda Corporation Grenda Corporation was an Australian bus and coach company which operated services under its subsidiaries Cardinia Transit, Grenda's Bus Services, Moorabbin Transit, Peninsula Bus Lines and Portsea Passenger Service, all of which were sold to Ven ...

16.

Europe

In mainland Europe, B10BLEs were bodied by Säffle/Aabenraa, Carrus and other local manufacturers.

Singapore

In Singapore, all

SBS Transit SBS Transit Limited (SBST or just SBS) () is a multi-modal public transport operator in Singapore operating bus and rail services. With a majority of its shares owned by Singaporean multinational transport conglomerate ComfortDelGro Corporation ...

B10BLEs were bodied by

Volgren Volgren is an Australian bus and coach body manufacturer. History Volvo Buses, VolGrenda Corporation, gren was formed in 1977 by Melbourne bus operator Grenda Corporation in Dandenong, Victoria. Because Grenda held the Volvo Buses dealership i ...

. One diesel-powered demonstrator (SBS1688K) was introduced in 1997 and scrapped in 2015 after reaching its 17-year lifespan. It was also SBS's first low entry bus. The other 12 were CNG powered. 2 units entered service in April and July 2002, initially serving Jurong Island routes. When the contract ended, these buses were redeployed to serve bus routes serving the far west of Singapore. The remaining 10 buses, which were kept in storage, entered revenue service in early 2006. Due to the scarcity of CNG refueling points in Singapore and various factors, all units were withdrawn by July 2019. Only the first two units were kept at St Andrew's Autism School and Tan Tock Seng Hospital for preservation while the later batches were all scrapped. The CNG buses are the last public buses to use plastic destination signages and are also the last non-wheelchair accessible single deck rigid buses in Singapore.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, many of the B10BLEs had Wright Renown bodywork, and a small number received

Alexander ALX300 The Alexander ALX300 (later known as the TransBus ALX300 and the Alexander Dennis ALX300) was a low-floor bus body manufactured by Alexander and later Alexander Dennis in Falkirk, Scotland. It was launched in 1997 as a replacement for the Stri ...

bodywork. The original

Plaxton Prestige The Plaxton Prestige is a low-floor single-decker bus body built by Plaxton at the Wigan, England factory of its Northern Counties subsidiary, and at its main Scarborough, North Yorkshire factory, during the latter half of the 1990s. The Presti ...

also featured the Volvo chassis as an option, but very few of these were built.Volvo B10B / B10BLE
Bus Lists on the Web

References

External links

{{Volvo Buses, state=collapsed Vehicles introduced in 1992 B10BLE Bus chassis Low-entry buses Tri-axle buses