Cologne operator KVB to take 51 electric Citea artics
KVB Cologne has ordered 51 electric articulated Citea buses in BRT design from VDL Bus & Coach to be delivered in 2022, taking its electric Citea fleet to 113 vehicles.
“This new order from VDL Bus & Coach underlines the decisiveness of KVB Cologne, already one of the frontrunners in Germany in the field of electric mobility,” says Boris Höltermann, managing director, VDL Bus & Coach Deutschland. “We are proud of this renewed trust.
“It allows us to continue our cooperation in the field of e-buses, which we started in 2012. It also shows that we are playing in the Champions League when it comes to the electrification of public transport in Germany.”
VDL Bus & Coach will supply the 51 articulated Citeas with its largest battery pack for the first time, 525 kWh.
The new Citeas will be used on lines 126, 142 and 146 on the left bank of the Rhine and on lines 151, 152, 155 and 196 on the right bank.
In this way, seven more bus lines in Cologne will be converted to e-mobility starting in 2022. The Citeas SLFA-181 are charged overnight via a pantograph on the roof at the depot and, due to the heavy urban use, also en route at charging stations.
VDL has electric buses operating across Germany in Cologne, Münster, Osnabrück, Oberhausen-Bottrop, Leipzig and Kiel with a combined experience of more than four million electric km. In the coming years the cities/municipalities of Plön, Völklingen, Neuss, Braunschweig, Verden and Goslar will also be added to this list.