On Monday 17th January, the new Skoda E’ City electric bus from the Skoda Transportation Group went on its first test drive with passengers in Prague.
The electric bus will now take test drives mainly on lines 154 and 213 and during weekends also on line 124. Prague is the first city where this new Czech electric bus is in service.
Passengers and residents of the capital will appreciate this novelty, as it does not produce carbon dioxide emissions and other harmful substances.
The total value of the contract including possible options is CZK 207 million. The Transport Company of the Capital City of Prague (DPP) has ordered a fleet of 14 vehicles and will deploy them mainly on lines 154 (Strašnická – Koleje Jižní Město) and 213 (Želivského – Nádraží Uhříněves) and during weekends also on line 124 (Želivského – Zelený pruh).
14 new Skoda E’ CITY electric buses will operate on two lines in Prague, replacing older diesel buses. Each electric bus will cover an average of 60,000 km per year. Each year, the buses together will save about 252,000 litres of diesel fuel and produce 714 tonnes less CO2 in the air.
This is the first delivery of electric buses by Skoda Transportation Group in cooperation with its sister company Temsa, which supplied the bodywork based on the given specification. To this, Skoda added the best of its own production – complete electric equipment including batteries and pantograph.
The entire assembly and complete tests were then carried out in the Pilsen factory, testing phase and homologation process took place in Pilsen and close surroundings.
“Unique charging system“
Skoda E’ CITY offers a unique solution with double pole charging and a galvanically insulated charger in the vehicle. In practical terms, this means that in the course of the day, when the bus is in operation, its traction batteries are repeatedly charged via the pantograph from the existing infrastructure for tram power lines or the trolley bus power lines being planned for the future.
DPP already has infrastructure for this type of charging prepared at the terminal stops Strašnická and Želivského. Charging here will take 15-30 minutes and will top up part of the battery’s overall capacity, allowing the bus to complete another circuit on the line.
The advantage of this solution is the ideal control of the vehicle’s energy balance and, most importantly, the low costs for charging infrastructure. Electrobuses with this type of charging have a longer real daily range and greater flexibility for deployment on various routes.
Moreover, Prague will get advanced energy management of the entire vehicle fleet from Skoda Transportation Group, which will allow economically effective charging of batteries and extend their life span.
