A prototype of a fully electric bus, called Dancer, is being trialled for passenger transportation at Vilnius Airport.
The project, launched in partnership between Vilnius Airport, Elektrinio transporto sistemos and ground handling company Litcargus, will allow for the bus to be tested in real operating conditions.
The 12-metre Dancer bus prototype can carry almost 90 passengers at the same time, with 32 seats and 56 standing places, two of which can be transformed into a single seat for a disabled person. The bus body is made of composite material containing recycled PET plastic. Due to its extremely light weight, the Lithuanian electric bus needs less energy to drive, so its energy consumption is on average 0.72 kWh per km.
Lithuania’s Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis, commented: “The first steps are being taken at Vilnius Airport, although the road is still long, and ways to encourage ground handling companies to change their polluting transport are still being actively sought. We are already seeing a number of initiatives in Europe – electric airport buses, electric taxis serving incoming and departing passengers, interest in the deployment of other alternative fuel vehicles. The Dancer bus at Vilnius Airport is a great example of this. We are even happier that this passenger bus is the production of a Lithuanian company.”
In line with the Green Deal adopted at European Union level and the increasingly stringent environmental requirements, Lithuanian Airports also seek to reduce pollution, so the provision of ground handling services by electric vehicles is one of the options for greening the activity.
“We are really happy to contribute to the aspirations of the Lithuanian capital company, which we believe have the potential to become a global success. Lithuanian Airports are participants in the Net Zero initiative, which means that by using a wide range of solutions, we are looking for a way to reduce the carbon footprint in our activities, and testing such a solution will be a step in our chosen direction,” says Arnas Dūmanas, Head of Operations and Infrastructure Department of Lithuanian Airports.
