New "E-Bus" makes Porto a greener city

Public Transportation Company, STCP presented the first bus powered by an electrical motor. The eBUS, as it is called, is currently being tested on two lines of the transportation network in the city of Porto, in the framework of both the renewal of the bus fleet and the bet on environmentally friendly vehicles for the city.

By 2018, 15 buses powered by electricity should come to operation, which will bring significant benefits for the environment and the local air breathed by riders, pedestrians, and indeed all users of streets.

Pioneered by Caetano BUS, jointly with Siemens and institutions from Porto University, the eBUS is a bus driven by an electrical motor, which has a capacity for 35 seats and a maximum driving speed of 70 km/h.

The tender, to be launched in March, also includes the procurement of 282 buses working with compressed natural gas. The overall aim is to have only 10 percent of buses powered by traditional fuel by 2019.

Equipped with state-of-the-art Siemens batteries, which can be charged in just 30 minutes, eBUS stands out for zero CO2 emissions, low noise levels and significant reduction in energy and maintenance costs.

This is also a step further to assessing how modern is Porto, a city on the way to leave buses that pollute the environment in the past towards a modernisation of transportation usage.