MAN will be presenting the 12-metre solobus version of its fully electric Lion’s City E, which can accommodate up to 88 passengers, to industry representatives. The central motor is located on the rear axle. In the solobus, the fully electric driveline produces between 160 kW and a maximum of 240 kW. The energy comes from the batteries consistently located on the vehicle roof, which have an installed capacity of 480 kWh. Here, MAN can rely on the highly developed battery cell technology from the Group’s modular kit. What’s more, the sophisticated temperature management system ensures excellent availability regardless of the time of year. As a result, the Lion’s City E reliably achieves a range of 200 km, and even up to 270 km in favourable conditions.
In light of demands for progressively lower emissions in urban centres, one thing is certain: the future of local public transport will overwhelmingly be fully electric. MAN Truck & Bus is operating on the assumption that around 66% of scheduled-service buses will be electric by 2030. In this spirit, MAN is showcasing the fully electric version of the new MAN Lion’s City urban transit bus at the 2018 IAA for Commercial Vehicles. This tops off MAN’s new generation of city buses, following on from diesel and gas engines with a zero-emissions variant.
A slightly modified design highlights the unique nature of the electric drive. Its most striking feature is the lack of a rear engine compartment, with the batteries installed on the roof, making room for an ideal seating area at the back. Firstly, this positioning moves the batteries away from the vehicle’s rear, which is vulnerable in the event of a crash. Secondly, it allows for more design flexibility, more pleasant lighting and up to four additional seats in the interior.

MAN has opted for one central motor to power its electric bus (on the rear axle), then two to power its articulated bus (on the second and third axles). These are easier to access and more simply designed than motors in close proximity to the wheels, which provides advantages in terms of maintenance and the total cost of ownership (TCO). In particular, the articulated bus benefits in terms of its handling. The two driven axles increase its driving stability and, in turn, its safety, as well as providing maximum energy recovery when braking.

The fully electric driveline produces 160 to 270 kW in the Solobus. The power used for this comes from the modular batteries with 480 kWh capacity (Solo) or 640 kWh (articulated). In selecting these, MAN decided to take advantage of precision-engineered battery cell technology from the company’s existing range. These batteries’ sophisticated temperature management guarantees especially strong availability, regardless of the time of year. This way, the Lion’s City E can reliably ensure their range of 200 km (or up to 270 km under favourable conditions) over their batteries’ full life cycles.

The batteries are plugged into a CCS and charged at the depot, which can fully charge Solobuses in under three hours and articulated buses in under four with an average charging power of 100 kW. This length of time falls accordingly when the maximum charging power of 150 kW is supplied. MAN surveyed close to 200 customers throughout Europe and received feedback from several cities. It concluded that, for the sake of routine operations later in the day, flexible and uninterrupted service (without opportunity charging) is more important than an unlimited range. Especially since battery technology is developing at a rapid pace. The Lion’s City E will remain at the cutting edge in this regard, as it will be possible to upgrade the vehicle concept to the next battery generation. Charging outside of peak hours will also enable operators to tap into smart charge management and benefit from lower electricity rates, further adding to the cost effectiveness of running electric bus services.

Since the electric model is a fully-fledged member of the new MAN Lion’s City family, it will be easy to adopt into professional processes. And, as ever, transport companies will be able to benefit from the MAN service network.

MAN eMobility Roadmap
As part of MAN’s plan for electric vehicles (known as the eMobility Roadmap), a demo fleet will be tested to establish its suitability for everyday use in a series of field trials in mid-2020, partnering with various European operators. To this end, MAN has entered into several innovation partnerships with mass transit operators from Hamburg (Hamburger Hochbahn and Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein), Munich (Stadtwerke München and Münchner Verkehrs Gesellschaft) and Wolfsburg (Stadtwerke Wolfsburg and Wolfsburger Verkehrs-GmbH). Another partnership MAN has agreed is with two companies from Luxembourg: Voyages Emile Weber and Losch Luxembourg, a Volkswagen Group importer and the largest dealership group in the country. The MAN Lion’s City E vehicles will then go into mass production in 2020.

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