Zug,31.10.2018
ZVB looks to introducing e-buses on some routes
Both the Zugerland Verkehrsbetriebe (ZVB) and the Bus Ostschweiz AG (BOS) transport companies are looking to introduce e-buses on some of their routes from the autumn of 2019 onwards, the companies having opted to buy the new e-Citaro models made by Mercedes-Benz, the first such orders in Switzerland.
As Karin Fröhlich, the spokeswoman of the ZVB company, said, the companies have tried out various prototypes of e-buses, enabling them to gain experience in how they handled, and not just in summer but also in winter conditions.
According to the manufacturers, the energy needed to drive this new e-bus, compared with the Citaro with a combustion engine for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, is 40 per cent less. What has to be taken into consideration, however, is that increased energy is needed when driven in temperatures below zero, thereby reducing their range.
Both the ZVB and BOS companies looked at three possible providers of such buses but settled on this model by Mercedes-Benz because it was the most economical, while also taking other factors into account. As for the price paid, Fröhlich declined to reveal this.
Both bus companies also mentioned how they were expecting the number of commuters who use their services to increase, with e-buses having clear advantages over conventional buses, not least because of the lack of emissions and virtual noise-free operation, benefiting not only those on the bus and but also those on the streets where they run, as Walter Ulrich, the head of operations at ZVB, emphasised.