VDL Bus & Coach has completed Europe’s first large-scale battery refurbishment project, fitting 43 electric buses in Eindhoven, Netherlands with modernised, larger battery packs.
The refitted buses are operated by Hermes, part of Transdev Netherlands, and initially went into service at the end of 2016.
The old batteries from these vehicles will now be used within Project Anubis to support the grid at the RWE power plant in Moerdijk.
Meanwhile, the first-generation batteries from the buses have been replaced with upgraded technology, significantly increasing their range.
VDL completed this battery refurbishment project as the performance of the initial batteries had declined after 6 years of intensive use. This reduced the range of the buses, meaning they would fail to ensure efficient operation with the public transit network.
In contrast, the new system has almost doubled the power capacity of the batteries from 180 kWh to 350 kWh, allowing the buses to be used to provide zero-emission transport on more routes.
“In 2016, Hermes led the way with the introduction of 43 18-metre zero-emission buses. We are proud to now be taking another big step forwards in our greening strategy. Because we need fewer charging cycles for our buses, we can use them on more lines. This will allow more travellers to experience the comfort of these electric buses and, of course, we are extremely happy about that.”
