On Tuesday, December 28, a new batch of electric buses entered the streets of Moscow – they had just been assembled at a plant in Sokolniki. “Thus, their number in the Russian capital has reached a thousand, – said Deputy Mayor Maxim Liksutov. – For the fourth winter, this type of public transport has been working without interruptions.”
The last batch of electric buses was purchased with funds from the placement of “green bonds”, said Deputy Mayor Vladimir Efimov. This is a type of government securities in which city-dwellers invest. The process is beneficial to both parties: depositors receive additional income, and the city receives working capital to upgrade transport. As RG already wrote, in 2030 public transport in Moscow should become fully electric.
Now about one-sixth of the Mosgortrans park can be considered “green”. But that has already cut carbon dioxide emissions by 600,000 tons in three years, the Department of Transportation said. And in total, during this time, the electric buses traveled 60 million kilometers across Moscow – there were no serious problems. “These cars have become a good substitute for trolleybuses,” the driver Elena Nikitushkina shared with “RG”. It was more difficult to work with the trolleybuses that Elena used to drive: every day I had to fix the “horns”, sometimes there were failures – there was no autonomous course. “Now I don’t miss trolleybuses,” says Elena Nikitushkina.
Electric buses traveled 60 million kilometers in Moscow – there were no serious problems
In general, until recently, electric buses looked like trolleybuses, we just did not see pantographs – those very “horns”. They are located in a special niche and slide out during charging. But, as reported in the Department of Transport, a new type of charging is already being tested in the city together with the NAMI institute. On the roof of the innovative electric bus there are no longer “horns”, but contact rails. The pantograph is at the charging station of the new model. Thus, the cars become lighter, their power reserve is increased. In addition, the new design of the electric bus is much cheaper. There were fears that autonomous electric transport was a utopia for Russia, especially in winter. But the Department of Transport notes that there are no problems with electric buses in Moscow, even when the temperature drops below minus 20.
.