Greenmot gets ready for Autocar Expo: first tests on track for the Crossway converted into battery-electric traction

Greenmot will be unveiling a first prototype of Iveco Crossway converted into battery-electric traction at Autocar Expo in Lyon.

Greenmot is a France-based test centre and design office for all types of motorised vehicles, from automobiles to special military vehicles. In end 2021 Greenmot announced it is also developing project on an intercity bus retrofit kit in which the engine will be converted from diesel to electric generated by a hydrogen fuel cell. Also last year, the French government has selected Greenmot’s Green-eBus project as one of the future projects to invest in. 

Greenmot first vehicle on test track

Conceived by Greenmot’s internal design office, GREEN-eBUS pro2totype has finally reached a new stage, company says: it has indeed realized its first laps on tracks. Following a 1500 km-long travel on the hub dyno of the connected climatic cell, the prototype was tested at the TRANSPOLIS proving ground (France). This track offers all the features needed to test vehicles and their functionalities in a secure and out of sight environment. The bus, lightened of its diesel engine and converted into an electric vehicle, covered some 100 kilometres under the watchful eye of system engineers and automation specialists who measured the operating parameters”, Greenmot says.

The vehicle was submitted to severe weather conditions during its in-cell tests, and answered favourably. Extreme temperatures were applied, from -20°C to +40°C, as well as specific driving conditions with slopes up to 10%. 

«Beyond the retrofit transformation, our customers want to be confident that they can ensure continuity of services. Testing the vehicle in realistic climatic conditions allows to remove technical uncertainties and to validate, for example, the vehicle’s start-up as well as the cockpit’s heating at -10°C weather.» specifies Serge Moling, Greenmot’s product manager.

At the same time, Greenmot receives its first order. The discussion with the transport operator SNT SUMA, set up in Rognac (13) for almost 60 years, and which radiates on the South-East Region of France, has come to an agreement. A retrofitted bus will then be operating in the surroundings of Aix-en-Provence.