Danish Roskilde to electrify entire bus fleet
Roskilde says it is the first municipality in Denmark to switch to electric public transport only. A fleet of 20 electric coaches build by China’s Yutong will replace the entire diesel fleet.
Their arrival is set for April 2019. Once the electric buses made in China have made it to the Danish town, they will take over the entire bus service in Roskilde. Operator is Umove Øst.
However, the municipality is leaving the operator some margin in order to keep the initial cost down. This means Umove Øst may keep its diesel buses as a back up, in case one of the electric ones would give up its spirit prematurely.
“With luck, the diesel buses will be unnecessary, but if there are electric buses that break down or if things don’t quite go smoothly from the start, then the company is allowed to use diesel buses to a limited extent,” Ivan Hyldebrand, responsible for traffic at Roskilde Municipality, told Copenhagen Post.
The contract with the city is to run over 10 years in order to give the operators more time to write off investments such as the recharging terminal.
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