MAN Truck & Bus
We are electrified! By the beautiful roads already behind us and still ahead of us – and of course by our e-bus too. Today we’re travelling 207.9 kilometres from Innsbruck to the chic winter sports mecca of St Moritz. Here are the highlights.
On the road to Switzerland Today, Heinrich Degenhart and Viktor Schaub take turns behind the wheel.
Wildly romantic The Inn presents itself quite mysteriously under cloudy skies. But it is also full of energy: the hydroelectric power plants along the river supply plenty of clean electricity.
Today is a wonderful day! We’re off to St Moritz. Whether they come to watch the famous “White Turf” horse race on the frozen St Moritzsee lake, visiting the Chesa Futura by celebrity architect Norman Foster, taking a trip on the Glacier Express or simply sampling a piece of Engadiner Nusstorte, a traditional Swiss nut tart, some quarter of a million holidaymakers every year are drawn to this Swiss winter sports resort where the Winter Olympics were held in both 1928 and 1948.
And we’ll be there today, because our second stage from Innsbruck to St Moritz covers challenging passes and 1,248 metres of ascent, showing us superbly how the electric bus manages day to day life in the Alps – rather unusual terrain for a regular city bus. Gentlemen: start your electric engine!
As a newbie to this amazing road along the Inn, taking the wheel today has been a really special experience for me.
The first highlight of the day is clear before we even set off. Our bus is a real miracle of efficiency. When we looked at the trip data analysis after the first day, we were amazed to discover that we still have almost two thirds of the battery capacity left thanks to the outstanding regeneration achieved by our driver Heinrich Degenhart on the 1st stage, a total of 165.5 kilometres.
“How does the bus manage such good figures?”, we hear you ask. We can tell you it takes smooth driving, lots of downhill energy regeneration and a perfect combination of temperatures both inside and outside the bus. That’s the way to go! Nevertheless, we still charged the bus during our first night because today has quite a lot of uphill driving. We plugged in at MAN Truck & Bus Vertrieb Österreich GesmbH.
A word about charging: For customers who are ordering electric vehicles, MAN can offer a 360-degree package. “MAN Transport Solutions” is the name of the department that provides customers with an integrated e-vehicle and charging infrastructure deal. In addition to the model of their choice, the customer will also be supplied with the right charging solution too. Our road trip bus, the MAN Lion’s City E, offers its owner a choice of five possible CCS connectors, meaning that it can be easily charged in any depot. In two years, overhead charging will also be an option with the “inverted pantograph”.
Consultant With his team from “MAN Transport Solutions“, Stefan Sahlmann supports customers in their entry into electromobility.
We can’t wait another two years; we need to go. To St Moritz. The weather forecast promises snow. Today the driving will be shared by MAN ProfiDrive driver Heinrich Degenhart and Viktor Schaub from the Technical Product Marketing department at MAN Truck & Bus. Yes, even Viktor has his bus driving license! The full power of the 480 kilowatt/hour batteries is available to us as we set off. Once more, we quickly cross the Inn, at 517 kilometres, one of the longest and mightiest rivers in the Alps, over the Innbrücke bridge in Innsbruck, before leaving behind us some 50 kilometres later the picturesque Pontlatzer Bridge which was first documented in 1239. The modern bridge is an iron arched bridge dating from 1899.
The roaring, emerald green, glittering Inn is still to our right. A note regarding renewable energy: the countless hydroelectric power plants along the Inn in Bavaria and Austria generate several billion kilowatt/hours of electricity each year, a fact that fits in admirably with our zero-emission tour.
Busy Our rolling reporter Boris Pieritz can hardly enjoy the beautiful view - because the current daily summary still needs to be written.
Energy! This mobile charging station travels with the bus. With its help, you can recharge the MAN Lion's City E anywhere via a socket.
Shower The bus is in the beauty salon - after all, it should not only be economical, but also look pretty. The wash is a gift from MAN customer Bus Engadin in St. Moritz.
The landscape is becoming more mountainous, to the left and the right, valley after valley flashes by in the skiing heartland, such as Fiss, Ladis, Samnaun and Nauders. The bus cruises comfortably at its top speed of 84 km/h; an extremely pleasant speed at which to travel. There’s a little kerfuffle at the Swiss border with customs, because our test bus must be accompanied by a meticulously completed CARNET document for the special MAN European tour event. These things happen!
We have everything in order and, with a slight smile from the customs official, we are allowed to proceed up the mountain towards St Moritz, with the bus ticking along like a Swiss watch. Precise and relentless, we demolish the remaining 600 metres of ascent. The valley becomes ever more narrow, the cliffs ever more precipitous and the Inn ever more wild.
Stage 2 Along the Inn to the sophisticated winter sports mecca of St. Moritz
Enjoyment Routes like this are every bus driver's dream: gliding through picturesque landscapes on empty roads. Wonderful!
Round thing An apartment building in St. Moritz designed by the legendary architect Norman Foster. Its name: "Chesa Futura" - "House of the Future".
Game over the door and pasta on the menu Entrance to the "Krone" restaurant in St. Moritz, considered a culinary insider tip.
Our destination appears before us. Today, our energy has taken a bit more of a hammering, the climb has taken a lot out of the battery pack. Our regeneration rate is 13.5 percent, leaving us with 37.2 percent of the battery capacity remaining after driving 207.9 kilometres. Those are still good values after so many metres of altitude gained and so many steep climbs. We head out on foot to see the city’s sights – another zero-emission means of transport of course. Then a quick trip to the “Bus Engadin” charging station before having a delicious Engadiner Nusstorte and calling it a night. We’ll be continuing our journey towards Zürich tomorrow via the famous Julier Pass and its narrow hairpin turns.
