ELECTRIC AGE
BCI DEBUTED ITS own latest 12.5-metre electric Citirider E prototype at the 2019 BusVic Expo and Maintenance Conference, held October 1-2 in Melbourne. It boasted more than 400khW in battery storage capacity, and an Australian market-leading weight that allows passenger capacity of up to 45 seated and 20 standees, it says. It weighs 12.7 tonne complete with destos, monitoring systems, air-conditioning system and other ancillaries, BCI confirms.
Its new Citirider E electric bus caught more than a few casual glances at the Melbourne event, given the now ever-emerging attention to electric buses as a whole – particularly as a locally delivered and supported product option for operators.
Interestingly, BCI says it has a rapport with Dutch bus builder Ebusco, whose prototype Ebusco 3.0 e-bus won the recent Busworld 2019 Innovation Label award for a range of reasons, including use of composite parts, making it 33 per cent lighter without compromising on robustness, stiffness or safety, Ebusco states.
“Any co-operation with Ebusco would bring global benefits in electric bus advancement for both companies,” said BCI CEO Desmond Armstrong.
Ebusco Australia sales representative Simon Pearce added: “We believe with the Ebusco 3.0, we will provide an unfair advantage to bus operators, by significantly lowering the TCO model in
