Whenever an eCitaro gets to work at a transport company, service is already provided: through the OMNIplus e-mobility service concept. The best example: the bus and coach competence centre in Winterthur, Switzerland.

The BusWorld Home (BWH) in Winterthur that opened in 2020 is one of numerous OMNIplus locations that have prepared intensively for the eCitaro and the challenges of e-mobility. The ultra-modern site is comprehensively set up to handle electromobility, from the charging infrastructure through the workshop to parts supply. 

The workshop has a specially fitted station for work on the eCitaro. Below it is a 44-metre-long service pit, above a 33-metre roof workstation. Several vehicles can be worked on simultaneously here. Also from here, you can reach the approx. 100-square-metre platform assigned for the repair of high-voltage batteries. A crane lifts out the heavy batteries, if required, directly from the bus or coach and onto one of the lift tables. 

The LLW – live-line work – area exceeds all safety requirements, is ultra-modern and equipped with special tools, including protective equipment for direct work on the batteries. The employees are ready for all eventualities, whether it’s work on the electric drive axle, power inverters, high-voltage cables, fuses and CO₂ air conditioner – you never know what life will throw at you.

E-mobility requires specific services. And that’s why special warranties are offered, with OMNIplus developing tailor-made eService Warranty Contracts. This starts with the basic warranty on the eCitaro’s high-voltage battery. For NMC2 batteries, it lasts for up to five years, or at the longest up to an energy throughput of 60 to 80 MWh per battery assembly, dependent on the number of such assemblies in the vehicle. For solid-state batteries, the warranty is for up to ten years or 280 MWh energy throughput per battery pack. A second warranty applies to the high-voltage components up to 200,000 kilometres. For longer periods or a higher energy throughput, individually extended warranties can be arranged.

OMNIplus also offers the “eBasic” and “ePremium” eService Contracts. These contain packages of solutions for repair and maintenance works to the high-voltage components, as well as to the entire vehicle. Optimal service for the electric fleet can be put together from modules such as the basic warranty, extended battery warranty and eService Contract – all the way to BusDepot Management, meaning servicing is carried out by OMNIplus employees at the customer’s workshop.

Back to Winterthur. Alongside sites in Mannheim and Dortmund, the BWH is one of Daimler Buses’ European training centres for e-buses. Here, our customers’ and our own servicing employees are taught how to properly handle electric vehicles and their high-voltage technology using a multi-stage concept. Whether it’s high-voltage awareness, modules on high-voltage systems or maintaining the CO₂ air conditioning system and heat pump – if you are trained, you know what to do when it comes down to it.