Public transport in every part of the hard-to-reach city center without CO2 emissions and noise pollution. The electric midibus Movitas is almost ready to hit the road. In three years time, Tribus went from an empty sheet of paper to an agile and compact, but at the same time efficient “bus 2.0”. In less than six months, the vehicle can be used in places where a regular bus cannot reach.

The first prototype of the Movitas was already successfully presented to the market at Busworld last year. As it is an all-new multi-length vehicle, a second prototype was required to carry out further testing and obtain approval. Since then, many improvements have been made, from large to small. “Now the time has almost come for the bus to be used on the road, carrying passengers,” says Erik Henneken, e-Mobility manager at Tribus.

The Movitas has been designed to complement the existing bus market and is available in several models with lengths from 8.2 to 9.7 meters. Thanks to the completely flat floor, the vehicle is not inferior to a regular bus in terms of capacity. A four-wheel steering also makes the vehicle “super manoeuvrable”, Henneken explains. “We started all the way from scratch, with the goal of creating a e-bus that could access deeper inner-cities. You can’t just change cities, but you can change a bus. ”

At the moment, we are in the finishing touch of the second prototype, the longest model. “We deliberately chose to build the two extremes, because this also covers the middle model with testing.” However, the main difference compared to a year ago is under the hood. “The chassis has become a lot lighter, for example a different wheel suspension, air suspension instead of hydraulic suspension, different batteries”, Henneken sums up.

The project has seen hardly any setbacks in recent years, so that the time has come to enter the market in March 2021. This will initially be done on a small scale. It is not yet known where the Movitas will run for the first time in the timetable. “We are working on various options. Preferably starting in Utrecht, because our company is located here. We are discussing this with the municipality. But that also applies to Amsterdam. ”

In any case, it is certain that the Netherlands will be the first to become acquainted with the electric midibus, although Tribus has already received numerous requests from abroad. “You can think big – and we do – but it is safer to build a small series first and learn a lot from it. The Netherlands has an excellent public transport market for this. And it is close by for service, because there will no doubt be teething problems. ” Henneken is already looking ahead with an oblique eye, especially to Germany.

Ultimately, carriers, drivers and travelers should benefit from the Movitas. The door is positioned further back, so the driver is less exposed to the weather. “The driver is therefore more closed off. This is intended to give him or her his or her own microclimate, and it also works out well in corona time. ”The passengers also enjoy more comfort, ranging from the ultramodern suspension, panoramic windows to USB connections.

The fleetowner mainly benefits from an energy-efficient bus, partly thanks to a heat pump system. “The bus is modular in terms of batteries so the range depends on the wishes of the public transport companies. The goal is ultimately to reach at least 300 kilometers that can be driven without recharging. But if you opt for opportunity charging, you can, in a manner of speaking, keep driving indefinitely. ”

High reliability is of the upmost importaince for a city bus. With the Movitas, failure can be reduced to a minimum through early intervention. Thanks to remote dashboard it is possible to monitor all vital functions of the vehicle realtime. Henneken: “You can see, for example, that something is likely to go wrong in bus number thirteen, but you can still continue driving. If the bus returns late at night, the maintenance team can than solve the problem. ”

After the introduction of the Movitas, Tribus wants to take on new projects. The development of the midibus is anything but completed as soon as passengers can board. A dot on the horizon is driving on hydrogen and autonomous driving, for example. “All things for the future, but the buses are technically prepared for that.”

www.movitas.nl