Volvo has secured an order of 23 fully-electric buses from Arriva in the Netherlands. The buses will operate in the city of Leiden in the province of South Holland.
The order was signed in June at a ceremony in conjunction with the Volvo Ocean Race, which finished in the Hague this week.
Delivery of the fully-electric buses, with a battery capacity of 200 kWh, will take place between Q1 and Q3 in 2019.
Says Håkan Agnevall, President Volvo Buses: “We are delighted to establish our first large-scale system of fully-electric buses in the Netherlands in co-operation with Arriva, a pioneer in sustainable city transport. The order is yet another example where also smaller cities are shifting to sustainable, electric bus systems as a means of solving the problems with air quality and noise in the city.”
Adds Anne Hettinga, CEO Arriva the Netherlands: “This is a big step in making public transport more sustainable in the province of Zuid-Holland. With shared sustainability ambitions, the province of Zuid-Holland, Arriva and Volvo are able to make the public transport of a complete city emission free in one go.”
The fully-eletric buses are being sold as a complete turnkey package whereby Volvo takes care of all vehicle maintenance at a fixed monthly cost.
The buses will be fast-charged using four charging stations which will be delivered by ABB. The charging stations will be based on an open interface – OppCharge – which means they can be used by other electrified bus makes too. Energy consumption for Volvo’s electric buses is about 80% lower than for corresponding diesel buses.
