Zero-emission mobility in the accessible minibus market is here now and it is coming to minicoach, EVM Sales and Marketing Director Peter Flynn has underlined after the Irish convertor and dealer showed a pair of battery-electric minibuses at Busworld.
In right-hand drive format were a 16-seat Elegance high-floor example, built using a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter base vehicle and with a rear lift, and an Iveco Daily with CM composite body. In accessible format that model can carry 28 seated passengers, with an alternative 33-seat, non-accessible example available for school bus applications.
All EVM battery-electric models use an Elinta driveline coupled to 115kW/h of energy storage. On the composite bodied Daily, unladen weight is 4,780kg within a GVW envelope of 7,200kg, with Mr Flynn adding that the ‘sandwich’ body structure brings a major reduction in energy consumed for heating or cooling. “It is like a flask,” he explains.
The battery-electric Elegance is also fully tracked internally and comes with high-backed seats. While tilted at the local authority market, it could suit other applications in addition.
With a mid-day charge of around 50 minutes, the Elegance is capable of around 400 miles per day. The Iveco-based model can accomplish around 300 miles under the same circumstance, EVM believes.
On the Elegance, all three battery packs are at the front. That is unlike the low-floor e-Cityline, and Mr Flynn points out that such an arrangement leaves space clear at the rear that in a minicoach will allow for a drop boot.
EVM is talking to “many” operators in Scotland about battery-electric minicoach purchases, driven by the Scottish Zero Emission Bus challenge fund second round (ScotZEB2). Accessibility is required for vehicles to be eligible for that support, but Mr Flynn adds that EVM has developed an “interesting” way of approaching that, of which more details will be shared later.
In a wider sphere, he adds that all Sprinter- and Daily-based models offered by EVM are now compatible with battery-electric. He does not rule out adding a zero-emission bus in the 8m segment, with discussions in that area ongoing with various vehicle manufacturers. Expansion of work with Anadolu Isuzu on the AOS-branded range is also a consideration.
