Riding a "de-hybridized" ADL Enviro 400

As aluded to in a comment a few months ago, all of the Enviro 400Hs in the Reading Buses' fleet have been "de-hybridized" and converted back to plain diesel running diesel by chucking the batteries and giving them a standard drivetrain.
The result is this almost cursed engine sound that feels like a potara fusion of a Euro 4 E200 and an old Trident. I like it but still miss them as hybrids.
I've heard various reasons as to the conversion, ranging from poor amounts of power (expected from a 4 cylinder engine lolololol) to the batteries going bad and not being econmical to replace them. Either way, it seems hindsight has reared its ugly head yet again to the human race for the 74, 238,875th time.
Bus details: ADL Enviro 400 / SN11 BVV / Reading Buses 214
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[@DaniThePancakeWarrior]

I'm late to the party, but this did appear in my recommendations and I was curious.
The differential sounded nice on this one, here. Generally, I've found these "converted-hybrids" (as I tend to call them) to be quite quick, apart from the ones that don't get their ad-blue topped up. I would've expected them to struggle on the kind of hills that the Sky Blue routes throw at them, but they seem to be quite happy to rev up those hills for 4-cylinder engines.
I miss them as original hybrids, as well. These kinds of hybrids from 2010 to 2011 seem very small in number, and the ones between 2011 and 2013 generally sound the same. It's just one less batch of hybrids that I can ride.

[@joshuahalla.k.a.controlla6333]

Nice 🔥

[@beuhrail603]

Well that’s how a 4 cylinder ZF Ecomat with poor maintenance sounds like : weird
But for me this is better then what they used to be, they’re now more powerful, thrashy and can use the maximum power of those engines

[@Yashy2611]

I love how it sounds like a combo of an E200 and an e400 trident. What do you think about them?

[@MaverickHunterDaniel]

Well I like how it sounds too. Just a shame Reading Buses didn't find some extra £££ behind the sofa to give them more powerful engines from the begining.

[@Electroliners]

On my school route the hybrid sounded like euro 5 Voith for the first 2 gears and then make a horrendous noise and burning smell appeared so we had to cruise at like 15 mph

[@XNick291X]

A lot of Reading E400's/E400 MMC' sound so strange, even the ones on Greenline, but that's mainly the MMC's that make the odd engine sounds

[@MaverickHunterDaniel]

I didn't notice the E400mmcs sounding odd honestly, at least not the gas powered ones. I'll need to ride on the Greenline one again to see.

[@XNick291X]

@@MaverickHunterDaniel Ah yea, it's the conventional diesel MMC's

[@beuhrail603]

Well it’s Reading Buses fault that they tuned the gearbox to change gear constantly that in 0-10 mph it changes 3 times a row

[@T_vEg]

This is why ADL ditched the batteries and converted to use Ultra Capacitors

[@kieranstravels]

That sounds SO cursed, what even is this??

[@LucyMichela]

So this is like EYMS and First West of England then? The E40Hs were clearly not that reliable. I know the Volvo B5LH seems to do better as I don't know of any converted back

[@MaverickHunterDaniel]

I was unaware of that or what EYMS is/First WoE did.

[@LucyMichela]

@@MaverickHunterDaniel EYMS being East Yorkshire. I just always think of their old name, rather than their new one for some reason lol

[@tr1v3n]

@@LucyMichela They are designed to be hybrids...

[@andrewreynolds4949]

I have always been very skeptical of electric powered vehicles

[@MaverickHunterDaniel]

Eh, I'm split. It really depends on where, how and what it'll be used for. An electric bus on the K5 bus route which fiddles around housing estates in Kingston would be fine but would be stupid on the 040 National Express coach from London to Bristol.
I'm a huge fan of CNG and Hydrogen power, but even though they can be clean too, both have downsides to work with. Especially the case of Hydrogen since electrolysis is expensive and thus, the only other way to get Hydrogen is a process called Steam reforming which uses natural gas anyway lololololol.
More research needs to be done before I'd be happy for electric buses to take off instead of putting them on wherever companies feel like.

[@andrewreynolds4949]

@@MaverickHunterDaniel I have big doubts about hydrogen too, it's definitely not ready for the market. The Florida East Coast Railroad over here in America has converted many of their larger locomotives to run on CNG, but they require a fuel tender in each set. It must be working reasonably well enough for them to retain them though.

[@NSE465]

Is this what we call devolution?

[@MaverickHunterDaniel]

I like to think of it as a simulatenous upgrade and downgrade, like a TF2 weapon.
E400 Dehybrid
Level 10 bus
+30% more hill climbing power
-20% fuel efficency
- No random critical hits

[@uncletomo8514]

classic no random crits

[@Snivy_Films]

@@MaverickHunterDaniel so if we are making TF2 references, would a bus on fire be considered an Unusual E400 dehybrid with the effect of Burning Flames?

[@MaverickHunterDaniel]

@@Snivy_Films Top 10 questions science still cannot answer

[@5HADOW-The-Silverado]

@@MaverickHunterDaniel barring the -20 in health buff every time the front of the thing grandslams the asphalt on rough roads 😅

[@JohnDoe-gc1pm]

Hybrids were crap. Full electrics might be better - battery technology keeps advancing though, so batteries made 5 years ago will be much worse than those made today.

[@MaverickHunterDaniel]

Mhmm, I'm still a fan of true hybrid technology since there's been some great advances with it, automotive wise. The Koenigsegg Regera is my go to in that case.