Public transport in Germany is about to get cleaner after Mercedes-Benz delivered the first two of a total order of eight of its hybrid buses to the Dresden Transport Company.
The vehicle in question is the Mercedes-Benz Citaro G BlueTec Hybrid, which boasts a downsized diesel engine as the genset that provides power to a lithium-ion battery pack that is found on the roof. It also makes use of four electric wheel hub motors on the centre and rear axles of the vehicle, which have a total output of 320kW.
Compared to a regular diesel bus, the combustion engine is only half the size at 450kg but performance is about one third lower at 160kW. The battery meanwhile provides a maximum of 240kW with a weight of less than 350kg.
It’s not the first time that Daimler has had success with lithium-ion batteries in buses. It already has more than 1,000 hybrid buses from Orion, a Daimler brand, running in the US with the same lithium-ion batteries.
