The new Nano technology batteries from A123 Systems and Altair Nanotechnologies makes a new type of bus system feasible. These batteries can be charged very quickly (<10Min), many, many times. If a rapid charger is  placed at one or both ends of a bus route, a bus could run most of the time on these batteries, charged everytime it reaches the terminus of its route.

This new system has all the well documented advantages of an electric bus system (trolleybus) but without the overhead wires.  It is clean, quiet, and people friendly, but almost as easy to deploy as a polluting diesel bus system.

The name "Nanobus" was chosen because these are hybrid electric buses that use the new nano-technology based batteries such as the NanoSafe battery from Altair Nanotechnologies and Nanophospate batteries from A123 Systems.

Given that these new batteries get 4,000 to 20,000 cycles or more, and can be charged in 5-10 minutes, if a rapid charger is  placed at both ends of a bus route, a bus could run on these batteries, charged everytime it reaches the terminus of its route.

For example, the bus #33 here in Granada, Spain goes about 10KM from one end of its route to the other end. At each end, it waits for about 5-10 minutes before turning around and going the other way.

So, if a bus is electrically powered using nano batteries, and has a 10 minute charger at each end of its route what are the advantages?

1) A LOT fewer batteries than an battery electric bus that only charges at night. It only needs a range of 10KM, plus a margin for safety. This lowers cost, improves reliability, and decreases weight.

2) Permanent electrical infrastructure is small - one charger at each end of the route. Compared to all the wires for an electric trolley-bus like in San Francisco it is miniscule.

While the best solution would be a 100% electric bus, this is impractical, since if an bus gets stuck in traffic with the A/C on full blast, it can run out of power and be stranded - not a good situation! Instead, the Nanobus needs a backup diesel generator which can provide enough power to run the bus if necessary.

Fortunately, 99% of the technology for a Nanobus already exists. A Nanobus can be quickly created just by adding high speed battery chargers to existing Hybrid Diesel Electric buses - See System Design - Hybrid Diesel Electric. Current diesel electric hybrid buses have electric drive, batteries, and a diesel generator. All they are lacking is a way to rapidly charge the batteries at each end of the bus route. Adding this relatively simple feature converts a 100% diesel powered bus (hybrids still run on diesel), to a 70 - 90% electric bus. This is an incredible leap forward in public transportation, with virtually no changes to existing bus designs.

Conclusion: With the new rapid charging nano-batteries, it is now possible to deploy an electric bus system almost as easily and cheaply as a diesel bus system. In fact, if you look at fuel savings over several years, the Nanobus system should be cheaper than a diesel bus system!