Good practice:

Pilot project with an electric bus prior to the procurement of a large fleet of e-buses

The National Transport Strategy 2050 sets goals related to urban transportation in Malta with a target 50% shift away from conventionally fuelled cars by 2030 and a complete phase out in cities by 2050. In view of this target, MPT launched Malta’s first ebus with Transport Malta and TAM-Europe. The scope was to have a trial period to test the performance of the 100% electric engine bus on Maltese roads before the procurement of a large fleet of e-buses.

This pilot project helped the transport operator to identify the challenges of an ebus operating in the Maltese roads. The main conclusions of this pilot and the considerations for future procurement of ebuses are listed below:
• The performance depends on the operation time; during peak hours ebus has a higher consumption, so ideally for future procurement bus has sufficient power and range.
• The ebus had several issues when operated in steep uphills therefore for future procurement the maximum gradient is ideally ≥20% (given the many uphills in Malta).
• The performance depends on the operating temperature, the use of A/C increased the consumption limiting the range of the bus, ideally ebus has the neccessary specifications to operate in high temperatures.
• Due to the short distance between stops in Malta, the bus experienced problems to get out of the bus stops. Ideally a prototype is first tested in worst case conditions (in traffic with frequent stops) before the procurement of a whole fleet.

Human resources:
• 6 Drivers required to drive the ebus as well as assisting in data gathering;
• 5 Technical staff to assist in any technical issues of the bus and do repairs;
• 2 Personnel to charge the ebus at night;
• 2 Operation staff required to do the reporting and analysis.

• Experiences learned by operator will help in the transition to an electric fleet in line with the National Transport Strategy 2050
• Staff had an initial experience of how to work with an ebus
• The Pilot helped to raise awareness about electric transport
• Passengers got used to travel with an ebus
• Any technical issues encountered will help to strengthen the specifications for the future procurement of a large bus fleet
• This project encourages future investment in e-vehicles in Malta

Due to no previous experience, there were issues with the charging. In the hot summer months, the charge drained faster due to the A/C so it was difficult to have a full day operation. The model was not the latest and its technical specifications were limited, affecting the performance.

This good practice may be useful for territories which like Malta do not yet have an electric bus fleet. Doing a transition from a bus fleet with diesel engines to an electric bus fleet is not an easy step and a lot of difficulties may be encountered. Having a pilot project will help to identify some of these difficulties before doing the large step of buying an entire fleet.

The experiences learned from this pilot may be useful to other territories since it may help to identify some common issues which can be avoided as early as the pilot stage. This will help to have a more fruitful pilot project which will facilitate even further the transition to an electric fleet.