Hanover: First bus line is now purely electric
The public transport operator ÜSTRA has completely converted its first bus line to electric drives. From now on, the ring line 100/200 will only be served with battery-electric buses. In 2023, all six inner-city lines are to be served by electric buses.
The vehicle used is the Mercedes eCitaro. ÜSTRA already ordered 48 eCitaro at the beginning of 2019, more precisely 30 solo and 18 articulated buses, which will be delivered for the first time by 2023. However, only the solo buses are used on the ring line 100/200.
The eCitaro solo buses are charged with CO2-free green electricity at the August-Holweg-Platz end point before they travel on the 16-kilometer ring line every 10 minutes on weekdays.
Since the beginning of October, the vehicles have been on the road as part of a campaign with a special sticker – a mixture of city sights and nature motifs. “Our e-bus offensive is a complete success. You can now see that on Hanover’s streets,” says ÜSTRA CEO Elke Maria van Zadel: “This is a real milestone for Hanover’s local transport, and we are also pioneers in Germany in the electrification and environmentally friendly design of bus transport.”
On the bus line 121, which runs from Haltehoffstrasse in the northern part of the city through the city center to Altenbekener Damm in the southern part of the city, electric articulated buses are now mainly – but not exclusively – on the road. At the same time, work is continuing to expand the charging infrastructure at the end points of the inner-city lines 128, 134 and 120.
“Through the ongoing commissioning of new vehicles and the successful expansion of the targets, we are a big step closer to our goal of running all six inner-city routes with electric buses by 2023,” says van Zadel.
ueastra.de