“We must test here in Tübingen whatever,” stresses Hans Zeutschel, Divisional Head of Public Transport at Stadtwerke Tübingen (swt). He is responsible for the TüBus department and the public utility’s own transport service. Tübingen, south of Stuttgart, is one of the oldest university towns in Germany. Out of some 90,000 residents, around 26,000 are students. Tübingen also has a demanding topography with many inclines of more than 10 per cent on its bus routes. The Königsetappe even reaches 17.5 per cent. Added to that is a high workload. Not every vehicle can manage that, especially not every electrically powered bus.

“We’ve had nearly all the manufacturers here,” reports Hans Zeutschel, describing the start-up problems, for example. For this reason, the electric buses drive with sandbags in test mode. The eCitaro was also loaded with these on a test run in October 2018. “It got up the hill,” though, says Zeutschel, who was at the wheel himself. As a consequence, from autumn this year, a first eCitaro will complete the fleet of 67 buses.

swt’s own transport service was only founded in 2011. There are two neighbouring depots, but it does not have its own garage. The buses with the three-pointed star come with an OMNIplus Premium Service Contract from emission level Euro VI. Autohaus Seeger looks after maintenance and repairs during the buses’ entire holding period. It operates BusWorld Tübingen in the immediate vicinity and is set up for electromobility.

TüBus has also worked towards electromobility. Three Citaro G Bluetec hybrid models have been driving through the university town for two years – two of them previously operating in Hamburg. “They are a start for us,” says Zeutschel. For the fully electric eCitaro, Zeutschel has opted for depot charging. The charging station is not yet defined, but the energy is “green electricity in any case”. TüBus benefits from the expertise at swt, whose main business is supplying energy and operating the mains grid in Tübingen and the region. The technology is supplied and installed by the Stadtwerke colleagues, which you could call a home advantage. swt produces around half of the electricity needed in Tübingen regeneratively from sun and wind at its own facilities, with the share of green power in the Tübingen energy mix already at around 70 per cent.

TüBus will adjust the rotation of the eCitaro to its range. Driver training is necessary, as the drivers often switch between both routes and buses. “The drivers must be able to do everything,” says Zeutschel. Because the eCitaro runs so quietly, the Tübingen utility company is also considering using it on the daily-running night bus routes. Working closely with the Mercedes-Benz experts, each route is carefully examined beforehand from bus stop to bus stop.

What persuaded the company about the eCitaro? Zeutschel mentions “the performance on the hill” as well as drive comfort, the sophisticated vehicle plus maintenance and repairs, documentation and, last but not least, trusted contact persons. Ultimately, electromobility is all about the basics: “We have to transport our passenger safely and reliably.” The transport service is under the public gaze, “the people and politicians expect TüBus buses to also fulfil the highest environmental standards.”