ABU DHABI // It moved off almost soundlessly, the only noise a slight whirr from the electric motors at the rear.
At 15 metres long, the Superbus looked impossibly unmanoeuvrable as it took to the road for a spin around Masdar City.
Not so, according to Antonia Terzi, the former Formula 1 aerodynamics expert who was its lead designer and who was behind the wheel for yesterday's first UAE test drive of the prototype. "It drives like a car," she said. "After a couple of laps you forget you have 15 metres behind you. It's really, really responsive and it drives really, really nicely."
That, she said, was thanks to two sets of steerable rear wheels that make it surprisingly nifty around corners. "It's a very important and useful feature that allows the bus to reach almost any destination."
The eco-friendly community that is taking shape next to Abu Dhabi International Airport was a fitting setting for yesterday's test of the prototype of the revolutionary Dutch-designed 250kph electric vehicle. And for the first time the Superbus's batteries were charged up using solar power thanks to Masdar's array of photovoltaic panels.
"Last night it was fantastic because we charged the Superbus with solar energy from here," Ms Terzi said. "It was the first time we could close the loop. The idea is to have Superbus which runs on batteries, which is fully electric. But then the batteries need to be charged up through a sustainable source, so this is great. I'm very, very happy."
The sleek midnight-blue Superbus, which has room for 23 passengers, has been developed at the Delft University of Technology by a team led by the former astronaut Professor Wubbo Ockels.
Video: Superbus prototype displayed in Abu Dhabi
Last Updated: Apr 12, 2011
Get an up-close and personal look at the Superbus, capable of reaching speeds of 250kmh.
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Last week, as the prototype went on show in Dubai, he said he hoped the UAE would be the first country in the world to operate the vehicle, which could slash the journey time between Abu Dhabi and Dubai to 30 minutes. It is designed to use ordinary roads at either end of its route, but for most of the distance of its journey it would transfer to a purpose-built high-speed track on which it could accelerate to 250kph.
Ms Terzi said she was delighted to have brought the Superbus to Masdar. "Masdar City is a fantastic project because it's all about how to make sustainable energy and make it now, not in the future but now, and I love this approach. It's the same thing for Superbus."
Passengers would call up the nearest Superbus by phone, and it would take them from wherever they were to their destination.
The Masdar City director Alan Frost said the idea would be better suited to inter-city routes than as a means of transport within the community.
