Yesterday, on October 20, a KAMAZ electric bus was officially put into service in Belgorod. Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of Belgorod Oblast, was present at the ceremony.
The KAMAZ-6282 electric bus was put into experimental service in Belgorod for a period of three months. A pantograph charging station for the electric bus is installed by Unified Transport Company in Severny Urban Settlement. The innovative KAMAZ electric bus started running on October 20 and will be piloted along the route of Trolleybus M8 – from Airport to Technological University. Together with the first passengers, Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of Belgorod Oblast, accompanied by Samat Sattarov, Director of Passenger Transport of KAMAZ PTC, examined the interior of the electric bus and travelled a part of the route.
“An electric bus is zero-emission and thus more environmentally friendly than a usual bus. The passenger compartment of the electric bus is less noisy and vibrating than that of the usual bus. Once again, I’d like to note the electric bus to be tested cost us nothing. And our main task is to test it and decide whether Belgorod needs it or not. And if we take a positive decision, we will seek federal support to purchase such transport for large cities in this region,” said Vyacheslav Gladkov. The governor also added that the residents of the regional center can assess the advantages of the electric bus and share their impressions of the trip on social networks.
“We are proud of our product and are glad that Russian regions are open to innovations and care about the environment. This specimen has recently finished its trial operation in Kazan. For three months, it transported about 40 thousand people and the feedback from the citizens of Kazan was positive. I know that some passengers even let trolleybuses pass in order to get to their destination by electric bus,” Samat Sattarov said. “The authorities of Belgorod Oblast will be able to assess all advantages of the tested electric bus in practice and also determine what changes are needed in the infrastructure of Belgorod for efficient operation of electric transport. After that, they will consider the issue of further purchase of electric buses for Belgorod.”
Earlier in Moscow, during a business meeting, Sergey Kogogin, General Director of KAMAZ PTC, and Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of Belgorod Oblast, reached an agreement on putting the KAMAZ electric bus into test operation.