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ZeEUS – Zero Emission Urban Bus System

Bringing electrification to the heart of the urban bus network

First electric buses from the ZeEUS project marked a new chapter for Münster’s public transport

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With the ZeEUS Demo Launch event on 23rd of April, the city of Münster initiated an era of cleaner, quieter and low emission public transport. During the event, more than 150 participants could hear about the project from high-level speakers, such as the CEO of Stadwerke Münster, Dr. Dirk Wernicke and the Mayor of Münster Markus Lewe.

In the ZeEUS project, co-founded by the EC and coordinated by UITP, Münster will test and evaluate 4 fully electric buses Citea Electric provided by VDL. Quick charging at the terminal is ensured by an articulated arm which automatically connects to the charging system and prepares the bus for the next trip in less than 5 minutes.

The ZeEUS Demo Launch Event in Münster followed launching the tests of electric buses in Stockholm, where since mid-March eight plug-in hybrid buses provided by Volvo operate in real traffic conditions. Next step, two electric high capacity buses will be introduced in Plzen, another ZeEUS demo city, on 28th May 2015.

"Geographically, ZeEUS aims to perform tests in full range of climate conditions. It includes therefore Stockholm located in the north, Münster in the central Europe and Barcelona or Cagliari in the south,”

said Umberto Guida, EU Projects Director, UITP. “Moreover, different systems for electrical transport are being tested on the market at the moment. In the ZeEUS project, we cover this diversity: from plug-in hybrid vehicles to fully electric buses, from rapid to slow charging, with recharging ‘en route’ or just overnight in the depot”.

The buses operating in the European cities within ZeEUS represent a big change in how people experience public transport. Strongly contributing to a cleaner environment, smoother driving and minimising noise levels, they provide a completely different feeling and help reinforce the attractiveness of the bus. Through the demonstrations, the ZeEUS partners are collecting valuable information in order to share their experiences with cities outside the project, that also consider introducing electric buses in their fleets.

“ZeEUS is not a pure research project, but a demonstration project. We are, therefore, between research and commercialization. This is an important intermediate step to demonstrate the economic, environmental and social viability of systems of electric buses for mass commercialization”

said Daniela Rosca, head of Unit Clean Transport and Sustainable Urban Mobility, EC.  

for more information, please contact Pauline Bruge: pauline.bruge@uitp.org .