In the Brazilian city of Goiânia, five battery-electric bi-articulated buses and 16 articulated buses from on BZRT chassis are entering service.
While purely electric bi-articulated buses have already gained some traction in scheduled services in Europe and elsewhere – for example in the form of battery-electric vehicles as well as trolleybuses from manufacturers such as Hess, Solaris and Škoda – this represents a genuine novelty for Latin America, even though prototypes have previously been showcased in various cities.
Goiânia is the capital of the state of Goiás, with around two million inhabitants in its metropolitan area. In order to improve public transport services, the government and local authorities are relying on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) solution, which is widely used elsewhere in Latin America. The network provides for several routes with segregated lanes – often located in the centre of the roadway – and boarding via raised platforms.
The Brazilian manufacturer Marcopolo has been offering high-floor bi-articulated buses for use on these Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors for years in diesel versions; they are in operation in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, among other countries. What is new, however, is the recently presented battery-electric version of Marcopolo’s “Attivi” model. The bi-articulated buses are 28 metres long and are equipped with two electric motors, each rated at 200 kW.
The high-floor design for operation on BRT corridors with raised station platforms allowing step-free boarding and alighting enables the eight batteries, with a total capacity of 720 kWh, to be installed underfloor beneath the passenger compartment without difficulty. The double-articulated buses can carry up to 250 passengers, while the 19-meter-long articulated ones up to 180 passengers.
The depot of the local operating company is equipped with a new charging facility to support the planned large-scale electrification. With 23 chargers, each with a capacity of 240 kW, up to 46 buses can currently be charged simultaneously.
