Berlin public transport operator orders 90 new electric buses

The supervisory board of the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) has given the go-ahead for the purchase of 90 more electric buses. The vehicles are 12-metre-long battery monoplanes that will be charged in the depot.

The winner or winners of the process will be announced after the legally required objection period has expired – so it is still unclear which manufacturer the vehicles were ordered from. As the local German newspaper, the Tagesspiegel writes, the order is said to have gone to the Dutch electric bus and charging infrastructure manufacturer Ebusco. It would be BVG’s first order with Ebusco.

BVG says that by charging the buses in between, their “daily mileage can be maximised”. However, this will not involve rapid charging at terminal stops by pantograph. As a spokesperson explained to the Tagesspiegel, the use of the buses will be controlled in such a way that they will travel to the depot between the scheduled trips and be loaded there.

The approved budget for the 90 new vehicles, including the required charging infrastructure, is around 65 million euros in total. The delivery of all buses is scheduled for the end of 2022. This will increase BVG’s fleet to 228 electric buses.

Up to now, BVG’s electric bus fleet has largely consisted of vehicles from the Polish manufacturer Solaris: 122 Solaris electric buses are currently on the road in the capital. In addition, there are 13 eCitaro from Mercedes-Benz.

The Dutch manufacturer had presented its Ebusco 3.0 in October 2019. So far, the company is mainly represented in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. In Germany, some Ebusco are on the road in Frankfurt, Munich and Bad Tölz.

bvg.de, tagesspiegel.de (both in German)