The Volvo

Volvo Buses

Volvo Buses is a subsidiary and a business area of the Swedish vehicle maker Volvo, which became an independent division in 1968. It is based in Göteborg....

 B10BLE is a low-entry city bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

 chassis which was popular in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It was launched around 1992 with the engine mounted on the rear overhang of the bus. It was the successor of the citybus version of Volvo B10B

Volvo B10B

The Volvo B10B was a rear-engined high-floor bus chassis manufactured by Volvo Buses from 1990 to 2002. It superseded the Volvo B10R and its successor was the Volvo B12B....

 and is used as a base for single-deck buses worldwide. The B10BLE is available in diesel

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

-powered format, and later, also in a compressed natural gas

Compressed natural gas

Compressed natural gas is a fossil fuel substitute for gasoline , diesel, or propane/LPG. Although its combustion does produce greenhouse gases, it is a more environmentally clean alternative to those fuels, and it is much safer than other fuels in the event of a spill...

-powered format with the fuel tank

Fuel tank

A fuel tank is safe container for flammable fluids. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine system in which the fuel is stored and propelled or released into an engine...

s on the roof

Roof

A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....

 of the bus.

Its low-floor 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. This bus was succeeded by the Volvo B7L

Volvo B7L

Volvo B7L was a low floor citybus chassis with a rear engine mounted vertically on the left of the rear overhang, it was built as a replacement for the Volvo B10L...

, Volvo B7RLE

Volvo B7RLE

Volvo B7RLE is a low-floor single-deck citybus launched initially in Australia in 2001, and then in the United Kingdom in 2003 to supplement the B7L single-decker, which was unsuccessful in both countries. It is similar to the B7L's predecessor, the B10BLE...

, Volvo B12B

Volvo B12B

The Volvo B12B was a rear-engined coach and intercity bus chassis built by Volvo. It is built as a direct replacement of Volvo B12 in the European market and the Volvo B10B....

 and Volvo B12BLE

Volvo B12BLE

The Volvo B12BLE is a low-entry city and suburban bus chassis launched in 2001 with an engine mounted on the rear overhang. It replaced the Volvo B10BLE and is used as a base for single deck buses in Europe and Australia....

.

Specifications

The Volvo B10BLE features a Volvo DH10A engine with a displacement of 9,600cc. It is an inline four-stroke six-cylinder diesel engine with a turbocharger

Turbocharger

A turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...

 and intercooler

Intercooler

An intercooler , or charge air cooler, is an air-to-air or air-to-liquid heat exchange device used on turbocharged and supercharged internal combustion engines to improve their volumetric efficiency by increasing intake air charge density through nearly isobaric cooling, which removes...

. The engine has a power output of either 245 bhp (180 kW) or 285 bhp (210 kW). The engine is able to meet Euro 2 emissions limits.

Optionally available is a Volvo GH10-series (GH10A, GH10B, GH10C) natural gas or biogas 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 245 bhp (180 kW) in the GH10A to 290 bhp (213 kW) in the uprated version of the GH10C. The GH10C is able to meet Euro 4 emissions limits.

Bodywork

In mainland Europe, B10BLEs were bodied by Säffle and Aabenraa.

In Australia, the B10BLE is usually bodied by companies like Ansair, Phoenix Bus, Volgren

Volgren

Volgren is an Australian bodywork company previously owned by Volvo and the Grenda Corporation but is now entirely owned by the latter. It was established in 1977, initially supplying bodywork for Volvo buses sold in Australia, and later supplying bus bodywork on all types of chassis for both local...

 and Custom Coaches

Custom Coaches

Custom Coaches is an Australian bus manufacturing company started in 1935 in Guildford, New South Wales, Australia as the Cycle Components Manufacturing Company by Stanley James Hillsdon.-Origins:...

.

In the United Kingdom, many of the B10BLEs had Wright Renown

Wright Renown

The Wright Renown is a low floor single-deck bus body built on Volvo B10BLE chassis by Wright.Over 800 Renowns were built between 1997 and 2002, making it somewhat more successful than the B10L-based Liberator....

 bodywork, and a small number were fitted with Alexander ALX300

Alexander ALX300

The Alexander ALX300 is a full size single-decker bus body built by Alexander at Falkirk, Scotland, United Kingdom, which was first built in 1997...

bodywork.