SWEDEN Following trials, Scania’s first battery electric bus, the Citywide Low Floor, will from mid-March operate in regular traffic in the northern Swedish city of Östersund. The first three buses will work a 15km route with around 40 stops. With 10-minute charging, the buses will run every 15 minutes for a total of 100 journeys each day.
Norway’s trade magazine Busmagasinet recently had the opportunity to test the new bus. “Normally a new set of sounds is detected in an electric bus when the diesel engine is removed,” said Editor, Tom Terjesen. “But in Scania’s battery bus there’s hardly any noise at all. A little squeak from door strips is what we discover, but then we drive on icy and poorly ploughed roads.”
Tom noted that even at the maximum speed of 70 km/h, there was insignificant noise from both wind and powertrain. “Scania has created a very good battery bus,” he said. “A bus that is identical to the diesel versions of Citywide inside and out, but with a zero-emission powertrain.”
