Irizar Electric Bus (IEB)

Special mention should be made of the importance of the fully electric bus project currently in development to the Group’s future, the results of which, in the shape of the first units in circulation, will be seen in the middle of 2014.

This is another major step forward in the Group’s commitment to sustainable competitiveness and business strength.

The aim is to obtain the technology necessary for Grupo Irizar to be able to compete in the urban bus market, which it plans to enter with its fully electric bus, delivering the three first units in 2014, two to Barcelona and one to San Sebastian.

Projects currently under way:

• Etorgai IEB (Irizar Electric Bus) Project, started in 2011, to develop a fully electric Irizar brand urban bus that will essentially be designed by Creatio.
Together with Jema, Datik and the IK4-Vicomtech, IK4-Ceit and Tecnalia technology centres, Irizar plans to deliver a unit of the electric bus to San Sebastian transport operator DBus in July 2014. This 100% electric bus can cover between 250 and 300 km with each charging cycle. To achieve this, a power train has been developed using actual driving cycles, optimising propulsion and energy storage requirements and significantly reducing the weight of the vehicle through the use of aluminium as the main structural material.
This first unit will include an active security system that will achieve safer driving by detecting obstacles and traffic signs, with a storage system capable of efficiently identifying and managing energy flows and peaks.

• Innpacto. Project awarded this year by the Industrial Technological Development Centre (ITDC).

In this research line, related to the electric bus, the University Institute of Automobile Research (Insia) at the Polytechnic University of Madrid is assisting the Gipuzkoa-based centre to run bench tests on storage and propulsion systems. It includes characterising routes and on-board and sensory elements to measure the energy requirements of each component, to be able to devise, design and scale what is needed to be able to offer services to operators.

• European project ZeEUS (under evaluation). Two units of the electric urban bus will be delivered to Barcelona within the framework of the European ZeEUS (Zero Emission Urban Bus System) project, part of the Seventh Framework Programme in the European initiative Green Cars, which aims to demonstrate the economic, operational, environmental and social viability of electric buses as a transport alternative in urban environments.

It has 42 partners, a budget of 13.6 million euros and a three-year duration. The project will demonstrate the validity of zero emissions technology in eight European cities (London, Glasgow, Stockholm, Munster, Barcelona, Rome, Pilsen and Bonn) with different climates and orographic environments. It is an extremely important initiative for Irizar because, besides being one of the most significant programmes undertaken in Europe, it represents the ideal window for showcasing its technology, in addition to being a means for testing the market and evaluating its own product.