70,000 Citaro – eCitaro with new batteries and recharging via fuel cell – prototype of a battery-electric interurban bus
Daimler Buses and its Mercedes-Benz brand hold their ‘eMobility Days’ every two years. At these events, the brand with the three-pointed star shows what it has to offer in the field of electric buses and what it is planning for the future. In 2022, Daimler Buses invited guests to its bus plant in Mannheim; this year, Daimler Buses welcomed its guests in Berlin.
70,000 Mercedes-Benz Citaro
One of the highlights in Berlin was the delivery of the 70,000th Citaro to HTM Personenvervoer NV in The Hague, Netherlands (HTM = Haagsche Tramweg Maatschappij). Daimler Buses CEO Till Oberwörder handed over the vehicle to Karen Bosch, the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of HTM. The bus is a battery-electric 12-metre vehicle and is part of a large order for 95 of these buses that HTM has placed with Mercedes. And Mercedes-Benz is not only supplying the buses, but also the charging infrastructure for the depot where the vehicles are to be stationed as part of a ‘complete package’. Although Mercedes-Benz is not a construction company, it plans the system and organises the companies that carry out the construction work for the charging infrastructure – HTM then only has to put the turnkey system into operation.
The first Citaro buses left the Mercedes-Benz bus plant in Mannheim at the end of 1997. At that time, they went to Hamburger Hochbahn. In the meantime, 27 years have passed, and now Citaro No. 70,000 has rolled off the production line. That is an average of 2,593 Citaros per year, figures that are certainly impressive. Mercedes-Benz proudly reports that the Citaro is the most successful bus ever to leave the factory halls of the brand with the three-pointed star.
Till Oberwörder at the handover: ‘This fully electric Citaro symbolises our commitment to a more sustainable future. And for the path that Daimler Buses will continue to consistently pursue in the coming years.’ Mercedes-Benz has also been honoured twice for its electric Citaro, most recently this year, with the ‘Electric Bus Champion’ award.
The ‘eIntouro’, prototype of an electric bus for interurban services
Electrically powered buses (whether with batteries or hydrogen fuel cells) are no longer unusual on our roads. They have now achieved impressive registration figures, particularly in the city bus sector. Especially in Norway, which is already the European model country when it comes to electromobility – the proportion of electric cars registered in the land of the fjords is now 97 per cent, and 100 per cent for city buses.
City transport is of course also ideal for the battery-electric bus. The vehicle never travels very far from its depot when in use, so if it needs to be recharged, it doesn’t have far to go to the charging station. In addition, the electric infrastructure in urban areas is such that charging points can be installed along the route so that the bus does not even have to return to the depot to recharge. And another thing: the range of the batteries is increasing significantly, and it is no longer unusual for a bus to manage 400 kilometres on a single charge.
Astonishingly enough, there are more electric coaches than electric buses for intercity scheduled services. This is astonishing in so far as the coach is not travelling on predefined routes and is therefore not sure whether it will be able to recharge somewhere at the destination of its tour. Nevertheless, with a range of 400 kilometres, the electric coach can certainly go on a day trip, as it only has to reach the depot at home in the evening.
The proportion of battery-electric buses in regional and intercity scheduled services is still rather marginal. We have already seen the reasons for this with coaches: the distance to the depot at home is too long, the electric infrastructure at the end of the route in a remote village does not allow a charging station to be set up here for recharging electric buses. There is only one solution: the bus needs batteries with a long range.
Mercedes-Benz now also wants to tackle this market segment. And so the prototype of a battery-electric intercity bus was presented at the ‘E-Mobility Days’. It was emphasised that this prototype is already very close to the planned series version.
The vehicle is based on the well-known Intouro interurban bus – just as the Citaro with batteries is called ‘eCitaro’, the Intouro with batteries is called ‘eIntouro’. It has batteries with the cell chemistry lithium iron phosphate (LiFePh), and Mercedes-Benz certifies that it has a range of up to 500 kilometres. Its battery technology is tried and tested; it comes from the battery-electric Mercedes-Benz ‘eActros 600’ lorry. Two lorries of this type completed a tour of Europe in the middle of the year, during which there were no problems at all with either of them, especially in terms of range.
The ‘eIntouro’ will have its official premiere next October at the ‘Busworld’ trade fair in Brussels, and Merrcedes intends to start series production in 2026.
Daimler Buses CEO Till Oberwörder: ‘With our new Mercedes-Benz eIntouro intercity bus, we are electrifying the important passenger transport between urban centres and rural regions. This is the next step in driving forward the transformation towards the widespread use of locally CO2-neutral buses. We are convinced that the success story of the eCitaro will continue in the intercity segment.’
Innovations in the ‘eCitaro’ and ‘eCitaro G’ city buses
There are new batteries for the ‘eCitaro’ and ‘eCitaro G’ city buses, which have been in operation for years with great success. Whereas they previously had third-generation nickel-metal-cobalt batteries (NMC 3), they are now available with NMC 4 batteries, which above all give them a longer range.
And the customer can now choose something else: Mercedes’ battery-powered city buses were already available with a fuel cell as a range extender – by switching on a fuel cell, the bus could travel further. Such buses are used by the PaderSprinter in Paderborn and the Rhein-Neckar-Verkehrsgesellschaft (RNV) in Mannheim – which uses the buses for city transport in Heidelberg. They have to both recharge their batteries and refuel with hydrogen, we reported here:
https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/first-mercedes-benz-ecitaro-g-rex-for-heidelberg/
and here: https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/first-mercedes-benz-ecitaro-g-with-fuel-cell-range-extender-in-public-service/ .
Mercedes-Benz now offers the option of refuelling with hydrogen only. Of course, the batteries have to be recharged here too, but with the new solution, this task is not performed by a recharging station outside the bus, but instead the fuel cell recharges the batteries.
