Artemis Intelligent Power, Alexander Dennis Limited and Lothian Buses will jointly develop and demonstrate a new system based on Artemis’s Digital Displacement® hydraulic technology that will significantly improve the efficiency and reduce the emissions of vehicles such as buses that operate in urban environments. The system will allow more optimal sizing and intelligent control of engine accessories including the cooling fan. It is expected to also recover and store braking energy.

"We aim to demonstrate a high power, high efficiency hydraulic motor based on our unique Digital Displacement (DD) technology, which will be suitable for application to hybrid systems in heavy duty vehicles such as delivery trucks, buses and commuter rail. In conjunction with a pneumatic accumulator, and an electronic controller integrated with the existing engine controller, the motor will form the heart of kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) with higher round-trip efficiency, higher power density and much lower cost than an equivalent electrical system based on ultracapacitor storage. To be suitable for a commuter vehicle KERS, the DD motor requires innovation in the area of the embedded solenoid valves, and the local and system control software."