Test operation with all-electric passenger bus started on the apron
GATE, the association of the airport supply industry, is using the InnoAirport platform to test forward-looking and sustainable technologies in real airport operations. For its latest project, GATE has teamed up with airport bus manufacturer COBUS Industries and Hamburg Airport to test the all-electric passenger bus e.COBUS on the apron. The environmentally friendly model will be used at Hamburg Airport in regu-lary shift operations.
In order to minimize the environmental impact of airport operations, Hamburg Airport already relies on innovative energy-saving technologies and the use of alternative drives and more environmentally friendly fuels on the apron. As part of GATE's InnoAirport, the airport has received an all-electric e.COBUS from Cobus Industries, an association member and market leader in airport mobility, for test operation on the apron. "We are proud to be able to present our long-standing customers with another climate-friendly solution for the fleet," comments Patricia Vasconcelos, CEO of COBUS Industries, a Caetano Group company and Daimler Truck.
"At Hamburg Airport, we are always open to new technologies. We support the further development of powertrains that make air traffic and ground operations quieter and more environmentally friendly. That's why we are pleased to be able to offer the new e.COBUS a real test environment on our apron," says Burkhardt Höfer, Managing Director of HAM Ground Handling. Hamburg Airport will be the first major commercial airport in Germany to become CO2-neutral by the end of 2021 - and the use of alternative drive systems is an important element of this. Almost 100 percent of our apron fleet already runs on more environmentally friendly drives and fuels." "With this cooperation, GATE shows that numerous airport equipment suppliers have already developed a great many sustainable technologies. The test with the e.COBUS is primarily intended to illustrate that an electric bus is capable of running a normal shift and thus replacing a diesel model," notes Kevin Fischer, Innovation Manager at GATE.
The next climate-friendly passenger bus is already in the starting blocks. In the future, a hydrogen-powered fuel cell COBUS will take passengers from the terminal to the aircraft in test mode.
Picture (from left): Burkhardt Höfer, Managing Director of HAM Ground Handling, Kevin Fischer, Innovation Manager GATE, Miriam Schönrock, PR Manager GATE and Laila Engler, Sales Manager and Head of Marketing, COBUS Industries.
© Oliver Sorg
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