THE EU ELIPTIC project is looking at the electrification of urban buses as well as the improvement of energy performance in light rail and the multi-purpose use of infrastructure to support further electrification in transport. ELIPTIC is demonstrating technical approaches in 20 showcases with variations of electrified public transport under different operational, geographical and climate conditions. The demonstrations include new battery buses of high passenger capacity (18 m articulated) as they are increasingly in demand by public transport operators. Another concept is the combination of battery and trolley bus concepts, allowing to recharge batteries in operation (when connected to the overhead wires) and giving trolley bus cities an opportunity to extend the electric operation into areas without overhead wires. All in all, the concepts of battery volume and recharging need to be adapted to operational conditions.
There is high interest by cities and public transport operators in such concepts and related business cases. Associations of public transport operators (UITP, VDV and ASSTRA) and of cities (POLIS) play a major role in dissemination and in organising “twinnings” and exchange between the showcases and other interested cities and operators.
It is an explicit objective of the project to develop business cases by showing how costs and energy can be saved by electrifying public transport and by optimising the use of existing infrastructure and rolling stock.