First Customer For Mercedes Electric EvoBus

Mercedes-Benz has announced that Rhein‑Neckar‑Verkehr GmbH will be the first customer for its fully-electric Citaro city bus from Mercedes-Benz. Representatives of the Daimler subsidiary EvoBus GmbH and Rhein‑Neckar‑Verkehr GmbH have signed a corresponding memorandum of understanding.

The first vehicles will be delivered at the end of 2018, and then go into practical operation in the Rhein-Neckar metropolitan region as part of customer trials.  Apart from the delivery of vehicles, the two partners have agreed to closely exchange their findings during day‑to‑day regular service operations.

“Our bestselling Mercedes‑Benz Citaro is built in the EvoBus plant in Mannheim, our Centre of Competence for city buses. Naturally this also applies to the electric version, which we are currently preparing for series production. I am therefore pleased that our first customer for the fully‑electric city bus also comes from the Rhein‑Neckar metropolitan region, In the very proximity to our location, the cooperation with Rhein‑Neckar‑Verkehr GmbH enables us to gather important findings about the daily operation of our fully‑electric Citaro and for the urban public transport of the future,” says Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses.

“In regards to local public transport electric mobility for city buses is one of the future topics – not just since the discussion about nitrogen oxide emissions in cities,” says Martin in der Beek, technical director of rnv. “We as a company want to do much more than just move with the times and react. We want to actively shape the growth of electric mobility in local public transport. In EvoBus, we have found a powerful and important partner, to test the benefits of the technology and the appropriate operating strategies in everyday service, together with our passengers.”