EVM has enjoyed continued success with its low floor sprinter solution, bucking the downward trend in the industry with new units delivered continuously throughout the Coronavirus lockdown periods. The Cityline is a familiar sight around the UK in liveries from Go-Ahead, ‘Arriva Click’, ‘Teesflex’ from Stagecoach, ‘Pick me up’ from Oxford Bus and recently throughout Wales in Fflecsi colours.
The Sprinter model variant has proven itself a reliable workhorse, delivering substantial capital and operational cost savings to operators and Community groups around the UK.
“The industry trend towards small form factor passenger solutions, backed up by creative cloud based software solutions like ‘Via Van’ has created a demand for our Cityline product” said Peter Flynn, Sales & Marketing Director for EVM. “ The volume of our low floor Cityline in the market over the last 5 + years has given us a unique opportunity to listen to our customers and work with them and develop solutions that make the Cityline an even better fit for their organisations”.
EVM was quick to take advantage of the lockdown in 2020 and immediatly put its engineering team to work on several projects including revising the well proven Cityline with some key improvements, crucially driven by operator feedback. “Success in international markets as well as domestic UK and Irish markets has moved the Cityline up the charts to become one of our best sellers,” advised Peter, “We are answering calls daily to operators around the country and indeed Europe wide who we would have traditionally consider to be ‘Big bus operators’, but now embrace the Cityline as a real alternative for flexible and fixed service routes, particular in rural areas”
The engineering team at EVM, headed up by Cosimo Facecchia, who brings 20 + years of PSV design engineering to the table, focused on several points to create the latest version of the Cityline. A complete new low floor structure was the starting point to a weight saving exercise yielding increased capacity to 25 passengers made of 18 seated and 7 standee’s. “Increased capacity for operators was a key milestone for us, taking the Cityline above the typical capacity for tendered routes” said Peter, adding that “We have a new model in the pipeline that will take capacity above 25 passengers with equal key benefits for the customer, that they have appreciated in the Cityline!” A reminder to “Watch this space!” was added to keep us interested in our next conversation with EVM!
Fuel Carrying capacity has been increased to 93 litres from the original 75 litres, a key point for larger fleet operators, allowing the average operator complete even the most demanding routes without refilling.
Low Emission Certificate
Low Emission Buses qualify for the BSOG LCEB 6 pence/km operational support from the Department for Transport. BSOG is only awarded to buses running on local bus services, accessible by the public. “A lot of our customers are using the Cityline on fixed services, so it made sense to complete the stringent testing by Millbrook and the ZEMO partnership to achieve the Low Emission Bus Certificate” advised Lorna Miller, representing EVM’s Accessible & Zero Emission range in Scotland and the north of England. “The increased support level for Scottish operators of 14.4p + an additional 5p per kilometre makes our Cityline extremely attractive to operators”.
Technology: Efficient Diesel
Passenger capacity: 22-25
Fuel: Pump Diesel
WTW GHG saving compared to Euro 5 diesel equivalent: 33%
WTW CO2e per passenger km: 21.4 g CO2e / pass km
PSVAR Certification
PSVAR certification has never been something to worry about for minibus but with the adoption of the Cityline onto more service routes, the rules still require proof of certification.“The ability to certify our Cityline to PSVAR with DVSA adds another string to our bow for operators”, advises David O’Leary, the latest addition to EVM, representing their accessible and Zero Emission range in the south.
Zero Emission Offering
Another exciting announcement from EVM is the addition of a full electric variant of the Cityline, called the e-Cityline. The e-Cityline will have 150kW motors with 3 battery packs with a total capacity of 115kWh. Batteries are located in the engine bay and underbody, 1 forward of the low floor area and 1 behind the rear axle. The drive motor itself is mounted just forward of the rear axle.
The choice of motor is unique as it is specifically designed to be most efficient at lower speeds. This gives multiple benefits including, reduced vibration, reduced noise from high rpm motors and maximum torque from 0 rpm. The optimum cruising speed of 70km/h yields 93% efficiency at 2,400rpm. Maximum speed of 100km/h is achieved at 3800rpm. With peak torque of 1,250Nm and peak power of 150kW being reached at only 1000rpm, it makes the new e-Cityline comfortable in even the most difficult topographies.
Range on Electric vehicles can only every be accurately quantified with a lot of additional parameters i.e. driving style, ambient temperature, use of heat/cooling, battery management etc. EVM have invested heavily in eSORT testing with over 100 vehicles travelling 5800km per workday in 14 test locations all over mainland Europe. The expected range is 200km/124miles.
Battery technology is NMC (Nickel, Manganese, Cobalt) with integrated BMS (Battery management system) and a life cycle of 2500, with charging time for both models at 2.5 hours on a 50kW DC charger.
“EVM’s will have a complete range of electric solutions for all of its current range and indeed our forthcoming models in 2021” said Peter. “We have a steep development curve mapped out to make Zero emission a real choice for our customers, no matter what the application. Our first e-Cityline lands in May and we will be pursuing the Ultra-Low Emission Certificate immediately on arrival,” he advised.
Ian Edgerton leads up the Aftersales team in EVM with a nationwide support network offering next day delivery on all conversion components including glazing. “We continue to grow our support network as we add new customers to our fold” said Ian, “Our customers appreciate having an immediate answer and support on the end of the phone, but they also need a quick turnaround on repairs, so their vehicles can get back to work immediately.”
EVM maintains consistent stock of new Citylines to ensure customers are able to meet the ever more restrictive timelines on tenders. “The timing and announcements of tender awards for operators leaves them very little time to order a new vehicle and get it on the road for the start of the contract,” advised Peter, “We take the pain out of that by having stock units available to be deployed in as little as 3-4 days.”
