After the successful launch of the world’s first retrofitting series model in September 2020, the innovation leader e-troFit presents a short-term market outlook and talks about the upcoming milestones of their product portfolio: “Theoretically, we could convert any diesel bus in the world – in accordance with our corporate strategy for 2030 we focus on the development and availability of our retrofitting kits for the most popular models in Europe”, explains Robert Reisenauer, Chief Sales Officer of e-troFit GmbH. He also gives an outlook on the upcoming months:
- The development of an electrification solution ready for production for the Mercedes-Benz Citaro C1 628045 is completed. A slightly older model, which is still widely spread in Europe with about 1,000 vehicles, especially in Southeast European areas.
- As of July 2021, the electrified version of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro C1 Facelift 628083 will be available. A total of about 7,500 vehicles of this model are in transit on Europe’s roads.
- The Mercedes-Benz Citaro C2 is the vehicle with the highest potential for transportation companies and fleet operators in the DACH region. As of October 2021, the serial retrofit kits for the C2 628033, and as of April 2022 the version for C2 628035 will be available.
- The e-troFit conversion kit for the model MAN Lion City A21 in different variants will be ready for series production as of December 2021. e-troFit adds MAN as additional vehicle brand with short-term potential to their portfolio, and also expects a high number of retrofits in this area.
Additional products of different vehicle manufacturers are currently being evaluated. A total of 8,000 conversions, including the above-mentioned rigid buses, are the conservatively estimated market potential for e-troFit within the next 10 years. This corresponds to a market share of more than six percent of electric city buses in Europe until 2030. In 2030 every tenth newly registered, emissionfree city bus would be equipped with e-troFit’s technology.
The price of e-troFit’s retrofitting kits, including the electric conversion of diesel buses is, depending on vehicle model and range requirements, in a price range of about 300,000 Euro to 360,000 Euro.
With their established supplier, retrofitting partner and service network, e-troFit is able to offer their solution internationally at series quality. “We are currently recording a drastic increase in demand. In and outside of Europe cities and communities require sustainable, cost-efficient, and completely technologically reliable solutions to reduce the CO2 emissions of public transportation services“, explains Andreas Hager, CEO of e-troFit GmbH. “An additional plus of our retrofit kits, which are in accordance with highest automotive standards for functional safety, is their short-term availability in higher quantities.”
With this, e-troFit currently offers the most efficient solution in accordance with the Clean Vehicles Directive being effective as of 2021. Fleet operators of public transport services receive a costeffective alternative to develop their emission-free fleets. Numerous communities and municipal transportation services identify retrofitting as key component for a successful turnaround of transportation policies for public transportation services. Only a mix of retrofitting existing vehicles and acquiring new vehicles can realize the step towards electrification of entire fleets on budget and in time.
Besides technological expertise, the e-troFit team also offers consultation regarding potential government subsidizing to interested transportation service providers. Their full-service offer includes financing, project planning and implementation of charging infrastructure.
