The Volvo BZL is one of the Volvo entries the open record knows by name and by date — in 2021, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable.
How it came about
The Volvo BZL is a full-size battery electric bus chassis for both single-deck buses and double-deck buses, manufactured by Volvo AB since 2021.
First launched in 2021 for the United Kingdom and Ireland markets, featuring both double-decker and single-decker bodies built by MCV Bus & Coach, the BZL chassis range features CO2 heat pump-powered heating and ventilation, and is claimed to be 90% recyclable. It is also built to a high safety standard with multiple new safety innovations such as sealed battery compartments and a strengthened front frame.
The hardware
the output is 400 kW, 31 kNm. On the scales it comes to 19,500 kg. Drive goes through a Volvo I-Shift 2-speed AMT. The wheelbase is 3700 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Volvo line-up the Volvo BZL has a clear place: it replaced the Volvo B5LH / Volvo B8RLE; the factory was Borås, Sweden. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Nissan Z, the Porsche Taycan, the Great Wall Motor Tank 500. Its Volvo stablemates include the Volvo 144 and the Volvo 264 TE.