Chinese electric buses in Denmark run out of power and have to drop off passengers

The Danish company Tide Bus A / S, which owns 31 new Chinese-made electric buses that run on the Danish city of Esbjerg’s city bus network, has had difficulties after launching. In some cases, passengers have had to be dropped off because the buses have been running out of power and have had to be recharged, JydskeVestkysten writes.

It is important to be environmentally and climate-conscious, but the enthusiasm is less when the green solutions do not work 100 percent from day one.

This has been the case for several of the buses in Esbjerg since 12 December last year, when the old diesel buses were replaced by new electric buses from China.

The Chinese manufacturer Golden Dragon is the manufacturer of the buses, and according to their calculations, the 12 batteries will ensure a range of 300-350 kilometers before they have to be recharged. But even though some of the city buses on the current route network reach 450-470 kilometers daily, Tide Bus A / S had planned from the beginning that the buses should be recharged about 320 kilometers.

The problem is therefore not that the routes are long – on the contrary, it is the power consumption on some of the buses that have been too high in relation to the calculations, says Tide Bus. 

Speaking on the problem, Steen Rügge, CEO of Tide Bus says: “We know that we have had challenges with greater than expected power consumption on some of the buses, and we have worked hard to optimize it. Five out of 31 buses have used a lot of power, and we have for a period of time had extra employees at work to replace buses when they have had to be recharged. During that period, we have changed buses on the route and we have had to ask passengers to change to another bus, just as we have had episodes where the driver himself has had to drive in the garage to change, and the passengers have therefore been asked to get off and take the next bus. We apologize for that.” 

Critics have said that the quality of the Chinese buses has not been optimal but Steen Rügge denies that.

“Our buses do come from China, but they are from a manufacturer that manufactures between 30,000 and 40,000 electric buses a year, and they have done so for many years. The company is one which has some of the most knowledge about electric buses in the whole world,” Steen Rügge says.

In any case, the electric bus was not cheap either – the green bus costs DKK three million, while an ordinary new diesel bus costs around DKK 1.5 million.

About Gregers Møller

Editor-in-Chief • ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd. • Bangkok, Thailand

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