London Gatwick airport to gain first fully electric buses
While the exact specification of the Gatwick vehicles hasn’t been shared, the 18-metre-long ie trams resemble trains in appearance and typically feature a drivetrain output of 285kW. The batteries installed on typically enable a range of 350kmnor; not that they’ll ever be driven that far on a single journey, given that Gatwick’s long stay carparks are only between 5 and 12 minutes away from the terminals. Nevertheless, it marks a step forward for one of Europe’s major airports, which will also install an ‘ultra-fast’ pantograph charging system in order to deliver a full charge to the ie trams in around six minutes.Inside the ie trams, there’s luggage racks as well as a ‘digital vision’ system. This enables the driver to use rear, side, and front cameras to improve visibility while navigating to and from the terminals.
These aren’t the only fully electric passenger vehicles at Gatwick, however – the airport does have an electric monorail system to ferry travellers between terminals, although this of course does not use roads. There’s no word on whether or not more ie trams will be ordered for duties elsewhere in the airport – such as moving passengers from terminals to the runway.
The partnership with Gatwick marks a further UK expansion for Irizar, a Spanish firm. Last year, the company announced plans to set up a new UK HQ in Blyth near Birmingham, which is due to open later in 2025. Additionally, more than 50 Irizar electric buses are currently in operation in several British cities including London.
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