Caetano has reported its first major order from a major German city. ESWE, Wiesbaden’s municipal public transport company, has ordered ten “H 2.City Gold” hydrogen buses of the type . The buses are scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2021.
A first order for H 2.City Gold vehicles was received last year from North Friesland. Two Caetano City Gold hydrogen buses will be delivered to the DB subsidiary “Autokraft” as part of the “eFarm project” in the Niebüll region.
Four more Caetano hydrogen buses were ordered by “moBiel”, the transport subsidiary of Stadtwerke Bielefeld, just a few weeks ago. Another Caetano “H 2.City Gold” was recently on test at Regionalverkehr Köln.
Until recently Caetano was only known in Germany as a coachbuilder using chassis of well-known large manufacturers, like the Mercedes-Benz O 510 Tourino midi coach, which was based on a chassis from the Mercedes factory in Sámano, Spain, and for which Caetano supplied the body.
Now Caetano also supplies complete buses on its own Caetano floor chassis. One example is the city bus series “City Gold” with “H 2.City Gold” Also offering this bus with hydrogen propulsion and with it the Portuguese manufacturer is increasingly becoming more and more successful in Germany.
The ten 12-metre long two-door buses will be used on Wiesbaden’s lines 16 and 17. They will have fuel cells from Toyota and batteries with a capacity of 44 kWh.
Propulsion will be provided by a Siemens electric motor with a nominal power of 180 kW. The tank storage capacity is 37.5 kg of hydrogen, which gives the buses a range of more than 400 kilometres. (248 miles)
Two bus routes convert to fully electric operation using Caetano e.City Gold at Abellio London.
Abellio London are operating a fleet of 34 Caetano e.City Gold zero emission buses on London routes C10 and P5. The new Caetano buses are helping improve air quality across south London, supporting the Mayor of London’s commitment to improve the city’s air quality and help towards being a step nearer to total zero-emission vehicles on the UK’s roads.
The 10.7m Caetano e.City Gold are fully compliant with TfL’s latest specification delivering a step change in safety, driver and passenger comfort, including a number of features from the rigorous TfL bus Safety Standard such as a Camera Monitoring Systems to replace traditional wing mirrors, Intelligent Speed Assist, Acoustic Vehicle Alert System and a revised front design to improve pedestrian and vulnerable road user safety. The Caetano e.City Gold is a 100% electric urban bus that includes zero emission heating.
Positive feedback on the Caetano electric buses from Abellio’s drivers and operations team has been highly appreciated, describing the buses as “magic”, “a dream to drive” and “so cool”. Just as important were the comments from passengers including, being very pleased about their experience, one describing the Caetano buses as “amazing”, “spacious” and “very nice”.
Abellio’s Twitter has also received phenomenal feedback including such comments as “10/10 for comfort!” and “I really love the C10 & P5s Caetano e.Golds!”.
The project also represents a proud and significant moment for Caetano as it marks the first use of Caetano’s electric buses in the United Kingdom, a strategic market for CaetanoBus, where it has been supplying buses and coaches for more than 50-years.
Caetano is also providing a maintenance contract as part of the support package for Abellio, as well as fully supporting local delivery of a full aftercare support and spare parts to all Caetano vehicles sold in UK.
“Abellio is delighted to become the first operator of the Caetano e.City Gold in the UK, allowing the conversion of two bus routes in London to full electric operation. The vehicles have been well received by staff and provide a quality solution for future use as we move to convert the fleet to zero emissions” – said Tony Wilson, Managing Director at Abellio London.
“TfL and Abellio are committed to improving air quality and bus safety in London. We are very honoured to contribute to this forward-looking commitment through the delivery of our electric buses” – said CaetanoBus Sales Director, Kohei Umeno.