Oliver Luksic, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, today presented funding approval of over 2 million euros to the LibroDuct AAO consortium. The research team is working on battery-powered trolley buses that connect and disconnect from overhead cables fully automatically during operation and thus can be used in route sections without any overhead lines.
LibroDuct GmbH & Co. KG (consortium leader), DIaLOGIKa GmbH and Bergische Universität Wuppertal are jointly researching the flexible fusion of battery and trolley buses in order to better combine the advantages of both technologies.
The e-buses charge their batteries during their journey via the overhead line in order to be able to operate on route sections without any overhead line. Fully-automated connecting and disconnecting during the journey simplifies the overhead line system considerably: intersections and junctions can be kept free from overhead cables, and tracks running in opposite directions need only one overhead line. This makes the buses a lot more flexible to deploy than conventional trolley buses. Less frequented sections in town outskirts can also be serviced without the cost-intensive installation of overhead lines, and construction sites can also be easily bypassed.
Oliver Luksic: “LibroDuct enables more flexibility in using trolley buses and at the same time, saves considerably on the construction of associated infrastructure. This provides therefore, totally new options for electrifying urban bus transport. We need innovations like these and are supporting them with over 2 million euros. It is only through the research and development of new technologies, vehicle components, system solutions and services that we strengthen German competitiveness.”
Dr. Jan Messerschmidt, Managing Director of LibroDuct GmbH & Co. KG: “As an SME, we have connected stationary trolley buses to overhead lines using our own funds up to now. With the support of the BMDV and now in cooperation with the University of Wuppertal, we are very pleased to be able to tackle connecting to overhead lines during the journey. Completely new scenarios are now possible that make trolley buses even more attractive for transport companies. Enquiries about our technology from all over the world reinforce to us that we’re on the right track with this.”
The BMDV is funding the LibroDuct AAO project under the ‘Electric mobility funding guideline’ in the amount of 2,063, 584 euros. Funding of this measure is allocated through the European Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) in the framework of Germany’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (GRRP). The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ). The project will run until June of 2026.