© Christian Marquordt
A big occasion on 20 August 2025 at the Friesdorf bus depot of Bonn’s SWB (Stadtwerke Bonn Verkehrs GmbH): Daimler Buses was turning over ten Mercedes-Benz eCitaro buses to SWB (vehicles 2501 to2510
These are not SWB’s initial battery-electric buses, as there are currently 4 12 -metre vehicles from Ebusco and 3 verbalized automobiles from Solaris. On top of that, SWB formerly had six 12 -metre electric buses from the producer Sileo in Salzgitter (vehicles 1501 to 1506, but these have actually currently been eliminated from the fleet.
Until now, SWB has actually been instead reluctant to place battery buses right into solution. Currently, nevertheless, ‘points are really removing’. Five even more eCitaro buses from Daimler Buses are set up to show up in Bonn as very early as next summer 2026, and SWB chief executive officer Anja Wenmakers reported in her speech that a tender for 6 more electrical buses is currently underway. It has actually not yet been determined that will supply these cars, and then there will certainly be a huge order ‘in the pipeline’: Ms Wenmakers mentioned 35 vehicles.
The ten brand-new eCitaro buses carefully
The brand-new eCitaro buses from SWB are three-door versions. SWB decided to just buy three-door solo and four-door articulated automobiles 3 years earlier. The first buses to adhere to this are the 2022 designs. According to SWB, the benefit of rapid traveler exchange at bus quits is undue when the bus has another door.
The brand-new electric buses with the numbers 2501 to 2510 are 12, 135 mm long, 2, 550 mm vast and 3, 400 mm high. With this height, they can not pass through the reduced railway underpass on Rheinallee, at least not at the edges of the roadway. ‘We are thinking about mounting a traffic light system that only enables passage with the underpass in one direction at a time. Then the buses might drive in the center of the roadway, where the underpass is high enough.’ (Up until after that, nevertheless, the Rheinallee underpass is off limitations to electrical buses– and additionally to the hydrogen buses of Regionalverkehr Köln.
The lorries are powered by ZF’s ‘AxTrax AVE’ electrical drive, which has a peak outcome of 250 kW and runs at a voltage of 400 volts. Mercedes sets up the ‘ZF RL 82 EC’ with independent suspension as the front axle.
A special bar on the steering wheel permits the driver to activate the retarder as needed. This reduces the car while at the same time recouping energy (recuperation).
Security is guaranteed by driver support systems such as Energetic Brake Assist (ABA), which spots difficult situations and intervenes by stopping, and the transforming aide, which intervenes when individuals (pedestrians, bicyclists) or objects are in the blind spot alongside the bus when turning.
Although Bonn’s brand-new eCitaros still have conventional rear-view mirrors, a border video camera system offers the vehicle driver a complete 360 ° sight around the bus.
SWB claims a range of 290 kilometres for its new electrical buses. This indicates that they can conveniently offer the substantial bulk of SWB’s daily paths. Just on paths that leave the depot very early and return very late might there be a shortage. And on the express bus line to the airport terminal (Cologne/Bonn), where the buses travel greater than 600 kilometres a day. This is not yet possible for electric buses– a minimum of not for routine service buses.
The automobiles supply 31 seats and 51 standing locations, meaning they can bring 82 travelers. In addition, a wheelchair (or stroller) can be taken on board in the added space by the center door. A fold-out ramp at the middle door is currently common. The system has four folding seats, two solitary seats on which guests rest with their backs to the window, and a folding bench with 2 seats encountering away from the direction of travel.
The completely installed seats are of the ‘Mercedes-Benz City Star Function’ kind. All automobiles are equipped with the ‘EvoThermatic fundamental’ air conditioning system, which lies on the roofing system of the lorry. It collaborates with a heat pump and an antiviral active filter. Its energy consumption has been lowered by an excellent 40 % contrasted to previous a/c systems.
Twelve USB outlets allow guests to make use of and bill their smart phones.
To assist aesthetically impaired guests find their method around the bus extra conveniently, the handrails in the lorry are intense yellow and have a ribbed surface area.
The motorist has a swivel seat with folding armrests and seat heating. The motorist’s seat can be air-conditioned individually of the rest of the inside. And the motorist is secured by a chauffeur’s taxicab made from ESG safety glass that encompasses the windscreen and has openings to make sure that guests and motorists can communicate with each other.
Video surveillance of the inside is currently equally as typical as a big screen that supplies information regarding the course and journey.
Daimler Buses additionally supplies the charging facilities
Daimler Buses not just provided the buses, yet likewise the complete billing infrastructure. The buses can be charged by means of cable television and CCS combination plugs as well as through pantograph. With the alternative of cord and CCS combo plugs, they represent what the existing SWB electrical buses likewise need. The pantograph charging alternative is brand-new for Bonn. In the variation picked in Bonn, the pantograph does not rise from the bus to the charging station, yet descends from the station to the bus (‘panto down’). Years ago, the author spoken with Hamburger Hochbahn that ‘panto down’ was safer.
Daimler Buses has provided 8 charging points for the ‘panto down’ system. The charging points are set up on masts, which are secured in concrete bases. And given that SWB is taking into consideration transferring its bus depot, the concrete bases have actually been created to make sure that they can be easily transferred to the brand-new area.
GO.Rheinland hands over funding authorization for 3 4 million euros
The ‘GO-Rheinland’ organization is the responsible authorization authority for public transport in Bonn. Its replacement head of public transport funding, Christoph Nagel, handed over a funding cheque for 3 4 million euros. This amount will certainly not just cover subsidies for the new buses, however likewise for the brand-new charging framework that has actually been mounted at the Friesdorf depot.
S tart of service of the new eCitaro buses
The new eCitaro buses are anticipated to go into service around 1 November. Prior to then, SWB intends to train its vehicle drivers on the lorries and familiarise them thoroughly with the buses. The brand-new electrical buses will certainly be used on lines 600, 605, 607, 631 and 633
And diesel buses?
Will there be no more diesel buses for Bonn? Ms Wenmakers said: ‘We won’t be able to handle without acquiring diesel buses just yet. Nonetheless, there will certainly disappear brand-new lorries. If we need diesel buses once more, we will purchase pre-owned ones.’ Equally as 10 utilized Citaro buses from 2019 have just been gotten from Vienna, which have actually been contributed to the fleet as vehicles 1902 to 1911
However, one thing remains to be thought about: if several transportation business switch over to acquiring diesel buses that may be required once more in the type of pre-owned vehicles, the need for used buses might boost substantially. This is most likely to make previously owned lorries extra pricey …
24 08 2025