Buses with Battery Operation in Vienna

Electric buses have been in use in Vienna for several years. The operation of the electric buses in Vienna was tested for a few years on the lines in the city center with small buses. To charge the battery of the bus, the buses stop about 15 minutes at the end station. There, overhead power lines were installed. These electric power lines are connected to the electric power lines of the tram in Vienna. The bus connects to the power line at the end station and then recharges the battery for about 15 minutes.

The system for charging the buses and thus, of course, the basic building block for the operation of electric buses was in use for the first time in Vienna. With the charging system in Vienna the lines 2A and 3A are operated in the city center of Vienna. The expansion of the fleet with electric buses will continue in the next few years.

85% of passengers travel electrically ...

This meant that Wiener Linien was able to increase the proportion of passengers traveling by electric public transport to 85%. The expansion of electric buses will now continue with larger buses.

Electic Buses also in other Cities

There are many other cities with electric buses. One in Austria is the capital of the federal state of Styria, which is Graz. But a long time ago there was also an electric bus in Lower Austria. This is interesting for RegioTours users, because it connected a little settlement in the Czech Republic with a train station in Austria. It was the electric bus in Gmünd in Lower Austria. They constucted the electric bus line with an overhead power line, of course not with batterys. Due to military reasons the railway station of Gmünd in Lower Austria was set about 2 kilometers away from the city. And this was the reason, why the bus was invented.

The electric bus startet on the July 12 in the year 1907. But the last day of the electric bus in Gmünd connecting the railway station Gmünd with todays city České Velenice in the Czech Republic came very early. The electric bus in Gmünd had its last day on July 14 in the year 1916. The main reason was, that they could not get good wheels for the car during World War 1 (WWI). Before the war the end station was Gmünd-Railwaystation and belonged to the Austrian Empire. After the war the settlement was part of the Czech Republic.

And after World War 1 the bus could not be reactivated. Reason: The overhead power lines of this bus were made with copper. And therefore they were important for the war industry in Austria. So the emperor took the overhead power lines to the ministery of war in Austria in the year 1918.