The big players also want to be green

The ceremony presenting the eCobus, organised by Salvador Caetano and Siemens Portugal, took place on 8th October at Inter Airport Europe (international trade fair for the airports sector) in Munich.

Being presented as the first 100% electric airport bus, the eCobus is derived from the Cobus diesel vehicles produced by Caetano Bus (the factory of the Salvador Caetano group based in Gaia) to which electric motor conversion systems are applied, developed by Siemens Portugal. The project also involved the collaboration of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management in the optimisation of each model.

With an investment of one million euros, 40% of which is borne by the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), and lasting 20 months, the aim of this project is to convert the approximately 3,000 vehicles being used at airports all over the world. Its creators argue that this is “an innovative solution for recycling and reusing buses”, and prolongs the “life cycle of these vehicles by ten years”.

However, the eCobus’s trump card is the reduction by some 75% of costs as compared with diesel or gas systems, and a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.

The constructors also draw attention to their “latest generation batteries” and the “reliable and safe” energy storage system, which represent the solution for “reducing maintenance costs and achieving zero direct emissions without generating any noise”.

The eCobus is an initiative by two major Portuguese companies in the search for a better world, with lower consumption and fewer polluting emissions.

About the author

João Gonçalves (31) Natural da Serpa. Licenciatura em Marketing, Comunicação Empresarial, Produção Audiovisual na Universidade do Algarve, em Faro. Trabalha actualmente como realizador, operador de câmara e editor. Vive em Faro.