GERMANY
Dutch manufacturer Ebusco has signed a contract with Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), Germany’s biggest public transport operator, for 90 Ebusco 2.2 buses, expanding the company’s presence in the German market, which it describes as ‘strategically important.’ The order was confirmed on 21 December by the BVG Supervisory Board, and marks another step in the operator’s plan to move to an all-electric fleet by 2030. The first vehicle is expected to be delivered as early as this summer, and the order should be completed by the end of 2022, which means that the BVG will have 228 electric buses in operation. The contract with Ebusco includes an option to add a further 60 of the type.
The Ebusco 2.2 vehicles are 12 metres long and offer space for around 65 passengers with 32 fixed seats along with space for prams and wheelchairs. The buses will use depot charging, and will be fitted with batteries with a usable energy content of 419kWh, giving a range or up to
290 kilometres without intermediate charging.
Dr Rolf Erfurt, Board Member for Operations at BVG, said: “With this order, we will be bringing our e-buses to the south and west of our city for the first time. We are currently building the corresponding charging infrastructure for 30 e-buses each at the depots in Britz and Cicerostraße. This means that the electrically powered vehicles can in future be used by three depots instead of just at the Indira-Gandhi-Straße depot in order to make them accessible to even more Berliners.“
The budget for the 90 new vehicles, including the required charging infrastructure is around €65 million, with funding to meet the additional cost of electric buses over diesel coming from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure.
Ebusco has had a presence in the German market since 2017, and already has buses in operation in several cities including Munich, Bonn and Frankfurt. Peter Bijvelds, CEO of Ebusco commented: “We are delighted to welcome BVG as our client and to be selected to contribute to BVG’s transition to an entirely zero-emission bus fleet. As the largest public transport operator, BVG plays a pioneering role in transitioning the German public transport market to climate neutral solutions. We are proud that BVG has chosen Ebusco and we are looking forward to establishing a solid relationship.”
Ebusco said that the high and consistent battery performance in combination with the competitive total cost of ownership were important considerations for BVG for choosing the 2.2.
