Frankfurt Airport orders electric buses from Ebusco
The Airport operator Fraport has signed a two-year framework agreement with the Dutch manufacturer for the delivery of up to eight twelve-metre-long Ebusco 3.0 buses. The contract includes a firm order for four of the electric buses and an option for four more.
This will be the first time the Ebusco 3.0 will be used at an airport. As is known, the Dutch company delivered the first series of Ebusco 3.0 buses in June. The bulk of the orders, however, are for the Ebusco 2.2.
At Frankfurt Airport, the four electric solo-buses with three doors, a low floor and a battery package of “more than 250 kWh” are being launched. This means that the smallest battery option was chosen for the quartet, as the larger ones include 350 and 500 kWh. Thanks to “its composite construction”, however, up to 350 kilometres of range should be possible even with 250 kWh, which, according to the partners, “can easily cope with daily airport operations”.
Wolfgang Hackauf, Sales Director Germany of Ebusco, comments: “Our buses are available in different configurations and can therefore easily be applied for different purposes, such as airport transportation. We look forward to working with Fraport and are eager to expand our presence in the airport sector.”
Thorsten Clemens, Fraport’s Project Manager Fleet Management, outlines that electric mobility is an important component of Fraport’s climate protection efforts and represents a future-oriented handling operation at Germany’s largest airport. “These new Ebusco buses are among the first electric buses in our fleet and will set the tone for the coming years. In the tender process, Ebusco was able to respond to our specific height restrictions. We are looking forward to the arrival of the Ebusco 3.0 buses, and are excited about the partnership with Ebusco for the coming years.” The Dutch company’s model has the batteries installed in the floor and not on the roof. The resulting vehicle height of 3.19 metres is thus 26 centimetres lower than the 3.45-metre-high Mercedes eCitaro.
Fraport has set itself the target of achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2045. To achieve this, the company is gradually converting the vehicle fleet on the apron at Frankfurt Airport to alternative drives. In October 2022, Fraport presented an interim balance sheet. At that time, 570 vehicles or 16 per cent of the Fraport fleet had an electric drive.
Fraport is investing a total of almost €1.2 million in the expansion of charging options on the apron by the end of 2024. For the electrification of special ground handling vehicles, the airport operator currently plans to invest €17 million over the same period.
For its part, Ebusco is aiming for a production capacity of 3,000 buses per year in the medium term. The company had already presented the 3.0 in autumn 2019 in the 12-metre version and at the end of 2022 also presented the 18-metre articulated bus variant. Two Ebusco 3.0s have already been on the road in Germany for a good year and a half, specifically on line 100 in Munich – but these are still pre-series examples.
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