June 11 (SeeNews) - Cluj, Romania's fourth largest city, is aiming to replace its entire public transport fleet with green energy vehicles by 2025, the city mayor, Emil Boc, says.
Cluj is seeking 71.5 million lei ($18.1 million/15.3 million euro) in EU financing for the purchase of 30 electric buses, 50 trolleybuses and 24 trams, Emil Boc says on his official Facebook page.
The city has already purchased 11 electric buses for 26.1 million lei under the Swiss-Romanian cooperation programme, according to the mayor's Facebook post. The buses have 78 seats and can go 105 kilometres with a single charging.
In addition to the 11 electric buses, the project also includes the construction of three fast-charging stations and 11 regular charging stations, which takes the total budget of the Swiss-Romanian project to 32.1 million lei. Using the fast-charging stations, the buses can be charged within 10 minutes, while the remaining stations will be used to connect the vehicles to the low-voltage grid at night, which will increase charging time to six hours.
The Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme, with a budget of 181 million Swiss francs, finances over 250 Romanian projects related to promoting economic growth and business support, improving working conditions, promoting sustainable energy management and others.
(1 euro = 4.6598 lei)