BVB Basel, the public transport company of Switzerland’s north-westernmost city on the Rhine in the tri-border area between Switzerland, France and Germany, prepares itself to convert the entire bus fleet to electric buses by 2027. Orders for 62 electric buses have now been officially announced – when they are all in service by 2023, 40% of the Basel bus fleet will have been converted to electric traction.
In detail, BVB has ordered:
From Mercedes-Benz:
16 Mercedes-Benz eCitaro (3 doors)
38 Mercedes-Benz eCitaro-Gelenk (4 doors), driven on axles 2 and 3
The rigid buses will have 10 battery modules with a total capacity of 330 kWh, the articulated ones have 5 battery modules with a total capacity of 495 kWh. Charging power via pantograph is 300 kW. They will be equipped with the “Side Guard Assist” turn-off assistant, the “Preventive Break Assist” braking assistant and the TPM tyre pressure monitoring system.
From Swiss bus specialist Carrosserie Hess:
8 electric double-articulated buses of the “Hess LighTram 25 OPP” model with a length of 24.7 metres (5 doors).
They have a battery capacity of 132 kWh and use a maximum charging power of 450 kW via pantograpfh. They can be recharged on the line (opportunity charging) as well as overnight at the depot via a combo plug. They will be used primarily on Basel’s airport line 50.
BVB Basel’s plans to purchase another 64 electric buses by 2027; by then there will only be electrically powered buses in the city on the Rhine.
The electric buses will require major modifications to the Rank depot (garage).
