German-based lithium-ion battery manufacturer Akasol is now the official supplier for EvoBus’s electric bus Citaro that will be showcased at the IAA commercial vehicles in the coming September month. EvoBus will begin manufacturing the new Citaro from 2018 itself.
EvoBus is a subsidiary of Daimler and its latest offering, the electric -powered Citaro, will be fitted with up to ten of Akasol’s ‘Akasystem OEM battery packs’, which would cumulatively amount to a maximum of 243 Kwh. Gustav Tuschen, Head of Product Engineering Daimler Buses and a member of the EvoBus management team confirms, “Akasol manufactures battery systems for us with cells from Samsung. The batteries are being tempered at about 25°C. With this, we expect maximum charging capacity, performance and lifetime.”
Akasol has a serial production plant for commercial vehicle battery systems in Langen (Hessen, Germany) in autumn 2017. The facility has a yearly capacity of up to 300-megawatt hours. Akasol believes that this is Europe’s largest production plant for commercial vehicle lithium-ion battery systems. Akasol’s battery systems in the electric Citaro are able to charge rapidly, meet the demands on operating range and also supply additional units such as air conditioning and electrical systems. Between six and ten of Akasol’s battery packs are mounted in the vehicles, partly on the roof and also in the rear, where they take up the space that was once intended for the diesel engine. The Citaro bus with electric drive will have an operating range of 150 kilometres (SORT2 cycles, medium traffic).
Akasol's serial production plant for commercial vehicle battery systems in Langen
Aside from EvoBus, other clients of the serially produced battery systems are VDL Bus & Coach (Netherlands) and Alexander Dennis. Electric buses equipped with Akasol’s battery technology are already plying in London, Berlin, Braunschweig and Cologne.