The municipality of Nimes, in France, was looking for a hybrid Natural Gas/electric combination for its public transport and found the answer in the hybrid trambus Exqui.City, produced by Belgian manufacturer Van Hool and powered by FPT Industrial Cursor 9 NG engines.
In January, ten of these trambuses began operating a 20-minute service between the city’s railway station and its hospital, a line which transports around 25,000 people every day. This is part of Nimes’ plans to reduce the human impact on the environment through solid solutions that will lead the city towards a circular economy.
FPT Industrial’s NG engines are a fundamental part of this sustainable solution, because of their advantages in terms of CO₂ emissions reduction, high performance and low costs. They can also run on biomethane, bringing emissions down to almost zero.
For the Van Hool trambuses, the Cursor 9 NG delivers maximum power of 221 kW at 2,000 rpm and torque of 1,300 Nm at 1,000 rpm. It features Start & Stop, a technology that turns off the thermal engine when the vehicle approaches the bus stop, reducing noise and gas exhaustion, and bringing more comfort to the passengers. Once they have boarded, the engine restarts, charging the electric batteries for traction.