Details of Cars

Volvo B11R: the 10.8-litre coach chassis

VOLVO

TransJakarta Volvo B11R
TransJakarta Volvo B11R with Laksana Cityline 2 body. Photo by Anindra Pratama, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Volvo B11R is a coach chassis with a 10.8-litre engine, sold as a two- or tri-axle since 2011. It was the second member of Volvo’s BXXR family, replaced the rest of the B12B range and is the standard chassis for the 9700 and 9900 coaches.

Volvo B11R at a glance

Volvo B11R key facts
Introduced 2011
Engine 10.8-litre D11 in-line six turbodiesel
Power from 330 to 460 bhp depending on version and emission standard
Axles two or three
Role standard chassis for the 9700 and 9900 coaches
Double-decker B11RLE, from June 2018
Replaced B12B in 2011, B13R in 2013
Built in Sweden, Brazil (Curitiba), also assembled in Asia
Indian market sold as the Volvo 9400, 14.5 m

History of the Volvo B11R

The B11R was introduced in 2011 as the second of Volvo’s BXXR chassis family, replacing the rest of the B12B range and, from 2013, its stablemate the B13R. It is the standard chassis for the European 9700 and 9900 coaches, the exception being the North American 9700, which uses the B13R. In India it is sold under the 9400 name as a 14.5-metre coach with bodywork close to the pre-2018 European 9700 and 9900.

Transwa Volvo B11R with Irizar body
Transwa Volvo B11R with Irizar i6 body. Photo by ZidaneHartono, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

A double-deck version, the B11RLE, was introduced in June 2018 with Plaxton Panorama bodywork for Britain and Ireland and extended to mainland Europe in February 2020 with the 9700DD. By October 2014 more than 150 B11Rs had been sold in Britain and Ireland, Polish operator PolskiBus bought 20 with Plaxton Elite i bodies, and New Zealand’s ManaBus took a fleet with Kiwi Bus Builders bodies.

Engines

The D11 is a 10,837 cc in-line six. Early Brazilian D11A engines came in 370 and 430 bhp Euro III versions; the D11C, from 2014, offered 330, 370, 410 and 450 bhp to Euro V; and the D11K, from 2013, gives 380, 430 or 460 bhp to Euro VI. The B11R is also assembled in Indonesia, where TransJakarta runs more than 100 buses with Laksana Cityline 2 bodies and 370 bhp engines through ZF EcoLife gearboxes, and in the Philippines, where Autodelta offers 370 and 450 bhp Euro V variants.

Brazilian variants

At Curitiba the chassis is named after its output: B380R and B430R for Euro III, and B340R, B380R, B420R and B450R for Euro V. As with the B12R it replaced, a four-axle version is built for the largest double-deckers, and the B11R took over from the B12R in 2012.

Design and features

  • 10.8-litre D11: a smaller, lighter engine than the 12-litre it replaced.
  • Two or three axles: from 12-metre coaches to 15-metre tri-axles.
  • Coach standard: the default chassis for the 9700 and 9900.
  • B11RLE: a double-deck chassis introduced in 2018.
  • Worldwide: built and sold in Europe, Brazil, India and South-East Asia.

Volvo B11R versions

  • B11R two-axle: standard European coach chassis.
  • B11R tri-axle: for long 9700 and 9900 coaches.
  • B11RLE: double-decker chassis from 2018.
  • Brazilian B340R to B450R: named by output, with a four-axle option.
  • Volvo 9400: Indian-market 14.5-metre coach.

The B11R carries the Volvo 9700 and Volvo 9900 coaches and replaced the Volvo B12 family. More buses are in the Volvo collection.

Sources

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