Eurobus tests near-series Mercedes eIntouro

Daimler Buses sent its eIntouro electric intercity bus, announced for 2026, on its first customer test drive. A near-series prototype completed the around 380 kilometres test drive on a regular route operated by Eurobus. The latter will also be one of the first customers of the series vehicle after its launch.

At the beginning of April, the near-series eIntouro travelled from Bassersdorf in Switzerland via Zurich to the Europa-Park theme park in Rust, Germany, and back. According to those responsible, the test drive showed that the eIntouro’s two high-voltage batteries with a total capacity of 414 kWh ‘offer more than enough reserves to cover the nearly 200‑kilometre single journey at any time of year, even with the heating or air conditioning switched on.’

The eIntouro will celebrate its world premiere at the Busworld trade fair in Brussels in October. Production is scheduled to start in 2026. One of the first series vehicles will then go into service for Eurobus. Among other things, the company operates the so-called ‘Rustexpress’, which runs seven daily routes from many regions of Switzerland to the theme park from the end of March to the beginning of January – there in the morning and back in the evening. According to Eurobus, the shuttle buses, which are currently all diesel-powered, brought more than 60,000 visitors to Europa-Park last year.

“Together with Europa-Park, we are working on concepts to make Rustexpress journeys even more climate-friendly. Our regular shuttle operations involve a single journey of 200 to 300 kilometres with a subsequent waiting time of several hours,” said Thomas Knecht, owner of the Knecht Group, to which Eurobus belongs. It would be ideal to utilise this waiting time and therefore operate the route with electric intercity buses with coach deployment. “The Mercedes‑Benz eIntouro is the first electric bus to meet our requirements in terms of seating, equipment, ride comfort and range,” Knecht added. The Eurobus Group is a pioneer in the operation of electric buses in local public transport and will use this expertise productively for intercity buses. The company is thus very interested in this mobility solution.

According to Daimler Buses, additional customer tests will follow before the market launch. The manufacturer also sent a near-series prototype to the Arctic Circle for winter testing. The developers covered the 3,000-kilometre journey from Neu-Ulm to Finland on their own wheels.

The eIntouro is based on the well-known diesel-powered Intouro high-floor bus and is now set to initiate the transition to electromobility on classic intercity routes, school bus journeys and shorter journeys. In addition to the eIntouro with a length of 12.18 metres, there will also be an eIntouro M with a length of 13.09 metres. This will cover seating variants from 50 to a maximum of 63 seats. And: ‘For the first time in a European bus, software updates can be installed in the eIntouro ‘over the air’ – without a workshop visit,’ emphasises the manufacturer.

daimlertruck.com