City after city, Europe is electrifying its bus fleet, switching to quiet and zero-emission vehicles.This month, Munich, Germany, has joined the growing list of cities that have at least one fully electric bus line. The Munich Traffic Association (MVG) inaugurated line #144 and is on track to electrify #100 by the end of the year.
MVG is using eight 12-meter Ebusco 2.2 city buses on the #144 (which run over the Landshutter Allee and through Olympia Park) and four more on #100. According to the manufacturer, those buses are able to cover 300 km (186 miles) on a single charge.
Only overnight charging is required to keep the fleet running the entire day.
MVG's goal is to convert its fleet almost completely to electric buses over the next 10 years (by 2030) and use only renewable electricity to power them.
Ingo Wortmann, CEO of MVG noted: “A condition for this sustainable transition is that electric buses are just as efficient as the current diesel buses. They need powerful batteries with a long range.
On the other hand, the buses should have enough passenger capacity to be able to operate on our busiest routes. Without these conditions, there will be a lot of extra costs for additional vehicles and drivers to provide the same timetable. There is still a lot of work to be done.”
