In 2012 Transports Publics Genevois (TPG), the public transport operator in the Canton of Geneva, ordered 33 battery-powered trolleybuses of the type Exqui.City from Van Hool with electrical equipment from Vossloh Kiepe. The innovative vehicles will be delivered from the beginning of December 2013.
At present the new 18 m long battery-powered trolleybuses are being prepared for approval and tested in Solingen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, within the overhead contact network of this city. Thereafter, the first vehicle will be transported to Switzerland in the first week of December 2013, where the Swiss authorities will perform the acceptance procedure. The series delivery of the other buses will follow successively in the first six months of 2014.
Vossloh Kiepe delivers all the electrical equipment for the traction, on-board power supply and energy storage. The combination of overhead contact line operation and traction batteries as the energy storage units is not only a sustainable, but also an economic possibility of redefining mobility.
The Kiepe traction batteries work autonomously, all components for safety, control, cooling and heating have been integrated into the system. The batteries hardly require maintenance and can be recycled entirely. The capacity of the batteries allows operation of the trolleybus for up to seven kilometres without recharging. Thus, it is not necessary to adapt the infrastructure.
Moreover, the articulated trolleybuses have been equipped with double-axle drives so that they can also be operated on lines on which big differences in altitude are to be overcome within short distances - also although the weather conditions are difficult.
The modern buses with innovative technology are going to replace the old vehicles of the TPG, which have reached the end of their lives and will be scrapped.
At present the new 18 m long battery-powered trolleybuses are being prepared for approval and tested in Solingen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, within the overhead contact network of this city. Thereafter, the first vehicle will be transported to Switzerland in the first week of December 2013, where the Swiss authorities will perform the acceptance procedure. The series delivery of the other buses will follow successively in the first six months of 2014.
Vossloh Kiepe delivers all the electrical equipment for the traction, on-board power supply and energy storage. The combination of overhead contact line operation and traction batteries as the energy storage units is not only a sustainable, but also an economic possibility of redefining mobility.
The Kiepe traction batteries work autonomously, all components for safety, control, cooling and heating have been integrated into the system. The batteries hardly require maintenance and can be recycled entirely. The capacity of the batteries allows operation of the trolleybus for up to seven kilometres without recharging. Thus, it is not necessary to adapt the infrastructure.
Moreover, the articulated trolleybuses have been equipped with double-axle drives so that they can also be operated on lines on which big differences in altitude are to be overcome within short distances - also although the weather conditions are difficult.
The modern buses with innovative technology are going to replace the old vehicles of the TPG, which have reached the end of their lives and will be scrapped.
