Evobus
When every other
manufacturer was showcasing electric options in their stands, Evobus premiered
the natural gas-powered Mercedes Citaro. The Citaro NGT (Natural Gas
Technology) impresses with its quiet running and reduced CO2 emissions – both
are crucial advantages in heavy city traffic.
Practical-minded people will be
convinced furthermore by the Citaro NGT’s low weight and a correspondingly
large number of passenger seats, the engine’s strong performance, low fuel
consumption and extended maintenance intervals. Mercedes-Benz offers the new
powertrain variant as a Citaro NGT solo bus and as a Citaro G NGT articulated
bus. The Citaro NGT can be operated on natural gas or on renewable natural gas
– in the latter case, the Citaro NGT is actually virtually CO2 neutral.
The segment of urban buses
in Western Europe amounts to about 10,500 new registrations a year on an
average and remains on a steady level. The highly specialised European market
for urban buses with a natural gas powertrain presently comprises just under
1,000 units a year.
The gas tanks are now composite material with a plastic
core, a casing made of carbon fibres and, a new feature, additional glass
fibres. This combination of materials is very lightweight on the one hand and
highly robust on the other.
This bus is powered by the
new Mercedes-Benz M 936 G natural gas engine with a displacement of 7.7 l.
“Small being the big” logic is weighing just 747 kg, including the primary
catalytic converter.
It is about 230 kg or almost 25 per cent lighter than the
predecessor engine with a displacement of 12.0 l, making this engine a textbook
example of successful downsizing. This engine is available in two power
outputs, 476 hp @ 1600 rpm and 510 hp @ 1600 rpm. Optional LED main headlamps are
a new feature.
The light cone of LED headlamps can be defined with special
precision. Their colour temperature approximates that of daylight and thereby
reduces the eye strain for the driver.
