Optimising for electric

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Volvo Buses Electromobility Director Niklas Emlind Vahul was among those who took part in the Optibus seminar. JONATHAN WELCH

Jonathan Welch listened in to the first part of a recent webinar hosted by Optibus and looking at the barriers to the adoption of electric fleets

Travel is changing. While the politics around the industry and how it is financed and regulated may have changed over the last half century, very little has changed about the vehicles themselves. Despite the move to low-floor, buses have generally followed the same mould for the best part of 50 years. Door at the front, maybe in the middle, diesel engine at the back. But things are changing, and electric buses are quickly taking over; it won’t be long before we see the last orders for diesels, and Switch has already produced its last. For an industry which is often still quite traditional and conservative when it comes to change, the operational and mindset changes needed to get the best efficiency from an electric fleet will be significant.

In the third of a series of webinars, Optibus recently drew together a panel of experts from across the globe to look at the barriers to adoption of electric fleets which are making the transition challenging, whether they be securing funding, managing mixed fleets, training drivers or adjusting schedules and shifts to accommodate charging cycles, just some of the factors operators need to consider when making the move to electric buses.

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