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First new trolleybuses in Dayton/Ohio with In-Motion-Charging

The first production series bus no.1951 | Mark Donaghy

Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is the first American trolleybus operator which uses the In-Motion-Charging (IMC) technology at full scale. To replace its fleet of Skoda ETI trolleybuses dating from the 1990s RTA ordered new low-floor trolleybuses equipment with exrensive off-wire capability in the range of some 20 km in 2018. The buses use powerful traction batteries while running on streches without catenary – these batteries are recharged when the use the existing overhead network.

All remaining 30 Skoda ETI trolleybuses will be replaced | Mark Donaghy

26 of these IMC trolleybuses had been ordered in 2018, and soon the order was increased to a total of 41. Kiepe Electric is the supplying all the electric equipment including the battery technology while the body and the mechanical parts come from Gillig Corp. in California. These 41 vehicles supplement four similar hybrid trolleybuses supplied in 2014 as prototypes: No. 1401-2 use diesel motors for off-wire operation, no. 1403-4 are equipped with batteries. 1401 and 1402 will be converted into battery trolleybuses once all 41 new buses have been delivered.

The first productions-series IMC trolleybus arrived on 3 May 2019, and is being extensively tested. It is numbered 1951; the remainder of the series will be supplied by the end of 2020. All vehicles will be numbered 1951-1967 and 2051-2074.

Once fully operational the new 45 dual-mode verhicles will help to reactivate electric operation on all trolleybus routes and will serve additional routes beyond the current network.

29.08.2019
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