Originally published on CleanTechnica.
Electric bus company VDL sent its congratulations to Dutch passenger transport company Hermes for passing the 1,000,000 kilometer milestone with 43 VDL Citeas electric buses it has been operating in the Southeast Brabant concession.
The Southeast Brabant concession is currently the largest fully electric transit district in the Netherlands, but will be surpassed when a recent order for 118 more electric buses for the Netherlands is fulfilled, also by VDL. Hermes parent company Transdev Nederland noted on its website:
“Transdev Nederland, with their company Hermes, is proud to operate the largest zero-emission concession in the Netherlands with 43 electrical buses, many of them articulated. It is the first step towards 100% zero emission in 2025, as issued by the Dutch government.”
The buses have been running since December 2016 and are operating at full capacity across 8 zero-emission routes across the concession. Several of the buses cover more than 340 kilometers per day, which is an impressive feat at this stage of development. The fact that the buses have been operating at full capacity in normal service over such long distances speaks volumes about how practical electric buses are for transit agencies today.
The fleet drives 9,000 kilometers per day, which reveals just how many miles are driven by transit agencies each day and the corresponding diesel emissions they would be exhausting into cities as a result.
Electric buses are not some future technology that only wealthy transit agencies can afford — they’re a truly viable solution to transit that eliminates emissions at the point of use while also saving agencies significant money in fuel and maintenance costs. The buses that put in higher mileage utilize a rapid charging station at the Hermes depot.
The 1-million-kilometer milestone represents a significant milestone for environmental/climate improvement as well — it means that these buses have eliminated 4.7 tonnes of NOx and over 1,000 tonnes of CO2 in just 4 months of operation. These emissions were eliminated from some of the densest areas of cities, which translates directly into improved health for the people living in the area.
Source: VDL, via Dictus — thanks!
Reprinted with permission.