Schaltbau subsidiary SBRS to supply charging infrastructure for further 49 VDL-brand articulated e-buses in Osnabrück (Germany)

Munich/Dinslaken (Germany), 8 July 2019. Today, the Schaltbau Group subsidiary SBRS GmbH (“SBRS”) announced that the municipal utility of Osnabrück has ordered another 49 articulated e-buses from the Dutch bus manufacturer VDL Bus & Coach (“VDL”) and that SBRS will supply the corresponding charging infrastructure.

“We look forward to continuing and expanding an already proven and trusted quality partnership,” stated Wolfgang Griesert, Lord Mayor of Osnabrück, and Dr Stephan Rolfes, executive manager for mobility at the City’s utility, at the official announcement of the decision – in proper style, standing in front of one of VDL’s new articulated e-buses that is already in service. In December, the municipal utility put out its second Europe-wide tender – this time for 49 buses along with the accompanying charging infrastructure. VDL had already won an initial order in the first tender procedure in 2017 – and has now been awarded the contract for the second major delivery. This means all 62 articulated electric buses, including their charging infrastructure, are being provided from one single source, forming the largest all-electric fleet of articulated buses in Germany.

VDL is again collaborating with SBRS to deliver the e-bus system for Osnabrück. VDL will be supplying the battery-driven, articulated e-buses, while SBRS will deliver the charging infrastructure, consisting of up to two fast-charging stations at the further bus termini as well as additional charging points at the utility’s bus depot.

The new articulated e-buses will be almost identical to those already supplied for the M1 bus line between Haste and Düstrup, which have been in service since the end of March. The difference is that the new buses will be fitted with larger batteries and no longer with a fossil fuel-based auxiliary heating system. VDL will deliver the vehicles in two batches: 22 e-buses will be supplied as from the summer of 2020 and a further 27 units around one year later.

Incidentally, summing up positively after 100 days of operations on the M1 bus line at the end of March, Stephan Rolfes, executive manager for mobility in Osnabrück, said operations were “practically trouble-free”. Each articulated e-bus covered around 14,000 kilometres during the first 100 days on the M1 bus line, using approximately 1.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per kilometre on average.

According to VDL, the optimised fast-charging concept enables the customer to get maximum use of these new electric vehicles. The batteries are capable of providing 216 kWh of energy and have a maximum charging capacity of 320 kW. In addition to the SBRS fast-charging units located at various charging points throughout the operating area, 49 SBRS depot chargers (50 kW) are installed at the bus depot, where the buses are charged slowly overnight via pantographs on the roofs of the vehicles.