CDE Collision Centers (Columbus)

What Was the Gyrobus?

We often hear about the technology of the future at CDE Collision Centers (Columbus). There have been many transportation advances over the years that were invented and tested, but never quite caught on. One of these was the Gyrobus, a vehicle that probably never traveled on the roads in Chicago, IL.

Conceived by Bjarne Storsand, the chief engineer at Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MSO) in Switzerland, the Gyrobus was an emissions-free bus tested during the 1940s and 1950s. The name comes from the Greek word for flywheel—gyros.

At the time, the Swiss were looking for transportation that was more efficient and cleaner than using gas or diesel. The Gyrobus was quiet, pollution free and ran without rails.

Rather than using overhead wires like a trolley bus, the bus was powered by a rear-mounted electric motor and run by the stored energy of what is called a flywheel. The five-foot diameter flywheel was located in the middle of the bus and could spin up to 3,000 RPM. When the gyros reached a bus stop, more energy was added to the flywheel through three tall conductors.

Five facts about the gryobus:

• Traveling along a level route, the bus could reach speeds of up to 31 to 37 mph and travel about  3.7 miles. It took 30 seconds to three minutes to charge the flywheel.
• A Gyrobus prototype was unveiled in 1950. Three years later, it was used commercially, connecting the communities of Yverdon-les-Bains and Grandson in Switzerland
• Limited quantities of the electric bus were utilized in Switzerland and other cities in Europe. At least 12 gyros were used in Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo (now called Kinshasa) from the mid-1950s to late 1960s
• According to reports, the Gyrobus was unreliable and inefficient, especially when gas and diesel fuel were still relatively expensive at that time. The last one to operate was in 1959
• A Gyrobus is currently on display at the Flemish Railway Museum in Antwerp.

Since 1959, there have been many who have done research in this area and attempted to further the concept of the flywheel.

There are two notable projects based on the flywheel concept. One is the Autotram in Germany, which has run since 2005. Powered by a small flywheel, the Autotraum looks like a modern tram but moves on a flat surface rather than tracks. A fuel cell is the main source of energy. Another is the Capabus, which was used at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Similar to the gyrobus, it was charged with electricity at the various stops; however, it used electric capacitors for energy storage instead of a flywheel.

Sources: Tech News, Huffington Post and USA Today