Cape Town pilots electric MyCiTi buses

The City of Cape Town is set to test electric buses as part of its new research aimed at understanding how these vehicles could operate within its MyCiTi bus fleet.

Conducted by the City’s Urban Mobility Directorate in partnership with the University of Johannesburg, the project is funded by the City and through a grant from the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative (UEMI).

MMC for Urban Mobility Roberto Quintas said the research will look at how electric buses perform in different conditions, and how it affects battery life.

He added that, while the City has a good relationship with Golden Arrows Bus Services, which is already trialling electric buses, they want to collect their own data.

“We want to be very sure that we have taken into account the distances those buses can make with their batteries, the type of load, how many trips they can make before needing to recharge, the terrain, and recharge facilities.

The pilot will include four 12-metre-long electric buses on four initial routes, with the intention to test the e-buses on as many existing MyCiTi routes as possible for the next 12 months.

To listen to Quintas in conversation with CapeTalk’s John Maytham, use the audio player below: