Skip to main content

Gothenburg launches electric bus route 55

Gothenburg, Sweden, has launched the city’s first route for electric buses on bus route 55 using three completely electrically driven buses and seven electric hybrid buses, all from Volvo Buses. The buses are also equipped with onboard wi-fi and phone charging facilities.
June 16, 2015 Read time: 2 mins

Gothenburg, Sweden, has launched the city’s first route for electric buses on bus route 55 using three completely electrically driven buses and seven electric hybrid buses, all from 609 Volvo Buses. The buses are also equipped with onboard wi-fi and phone charging facilities.

The buses are silent and emission-free and run on batteries that are quickly recharged with wind power and hydropower-generated renewable electricity at the terminal stops.

Bus route 55 is a result of ElectriCity, a collaboration between research, industry and society that develops, tests and demonstrates new, attractive sustainable collective transport for the future. ElectriCity also develops and tests new bus stop systems, traffic management systems, safety concepts and energy supply systems.

“ElectriCity and route 55 are concrete proof of how Gothenburg is being developed into a denser, more sustainable and open city with attractive public spaces and a rich urban life. The project also demonstrates our ambition and strategy to attract expertise and investment that help reduce environmental impact and develop collaboration between authorities, industry and academia,” says Anneli Hulthén, chair of the City Executive in Gothenburg.

“The Volvo Group aims to be the world leader in sustainable transport solutions. A unique collaboration in Gothenburg enables us to launch the electric bus route here and remain a leader in the development of future public transport,” says Niklas Gustafsson, chief sustainability officer, Volvo Group.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New York pioneers online mobile real-time bus tracking
    May 22, 2012
    An unusual technology collaboration. David Crawford investigates Early in January 2012, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) rolled out the first borough-wide implementation of its pioneering Bus Time online mobile real-time tracking service. The system allow commuters to track each bus on every route in real-time on the internet, via smartphones and by text messaging to a mobile phone. The MTA chose Staten Island for its first live launch due to it being the only one of the five Ne
  • Modernising India's bus travel
    August 29, 2012
    Award-winning ITS initiatives are promising modernisation of bus travel as a key part of development plans for cities of the Indian state of Karnataka. The Indian state of Karnataka is poised to launch the next stage of a major rollout of ITS technology on its bus network following the August 2012 go-live of an award-winning passenger information system. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), which is owned by the state government
  • New technology can ‘charge a bus during fifteen-second stop’
    June 3, 2013
    Swiss firm ABB has developed technology that it says can charge a full-sized electric bus during ordinary stops, removing the need for overhead lines in major cities. According to ABB, the bus can be charged with a fifteen-second, 400 kilowatt boost at selected stops, which allows for the vehicle to top off its charge while the passengers are loading or leaving the bus, and a three to four minute charge at the end of the bus line will then fully recharge the batteries.
  • Contact lens technology could offer alternative to battery power storage
    December 7, 2016
    Research by UK organisations the University of Surrey and Augmented Optics, in collaboration with the University of Bristol, has developed technology which could revolutionise the capabilities of appliances that have previously relied on battery power to work. It could also revolutionise electric cars, allowing the possibility for them to recharge as quickly a regular non-electric car refuels with petrol, instead of the current process which takes approximately 6-8 hours. They believe the development by