Introduction of MODULO, the Hungarian Electric Bus

Budapest, April 16, 2014. – evopro has introduced the electric prototype of its MODULO bus family, called MODULO Medio Electric, which represents the latest milestone in the engineering company's zero-emission urban public transport concept. The 8 meter long prototype – which has a 65 passenger capacity – was admired by participants of the introduction ceremony held in the Buda Castle.

 Medio Electric, the first member of the MODULO bus family was introduced as one of the most innovative Hungarian developments of the vehicle industry in recent years. It boasts a zero-emission electric drive and 57% Hungarian-made content. It has an ultralight, composite structure: it's built from ring-like standard modules with which the length and the capacity of the vehicle can be adjusted.

“Large-scale development of green transportation plays a key role in the economic strategy of the 2014-2020 cycle”, said Nándor Csepreghy, Deputy Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office at the introduction of the bus. Dr.  Áron Márk Lenner, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of National Economy added: “Hungary is one of the centers of vehicle manufacturing both at a regional and at a European level. We would definitely want to keep this leadership role, which is why the dispersion of electric vehicles and the associated infrastructure and research and development plays a key role in the government's future policy.”

This was confirmed by Csaba Mészáros, President and owner of the evopro group, who sees great opportunities in the development of zero-emission transportation, and  - thanks to evoBank Ltd. - in the financing of innovative projects. “It's important that beyond the engineering know-how the business and government environment should be innovative, too. This is clearly demonstrated by the example of MODULO, because the “E-BUS Ready” bus family can be commissioned either with traditional or with hybrid drives. When the opportunity comes to operate purely electric vehicles, they can be retrofitted at a low cost to make use of the cheap nuclear energy produced by Paks in the public transport of our cities”, he stressed.

Balázs Bodnár, Managing Director of evopro Ltd., representing the dominant engineering company of the group, added that the capacity for innovation lies in the search for forward-looking, novel solutions that are also brought to market successfully. Speaking of MODULO he emphasized that besides the 20% less gross weight and the 40% larger passenger capacity it is not just a bus with an ultralight composite structure that can be built from standardized modules and has low maintenance needs, but they are offering and entire transportation system which includes, for example, passenger counting and electronic ticketing. To keep a step ahead it is indispensable to include the future generation and educational partners in the development, too.

This was confirmed by Dr. István Varga, the Dean of the Faculty of Transportation Engineering and Vehicle Engineering at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics: “It is especially important for the industry players to seek out educational institutions with new and interesting problems to cooperate on research and development projects, thus giving birth to market-ready innovations as the common denominator of theoretical knowledge and market demands.” To emphasize this point, István Wahl, Director of MABI-BUS Ltd. has revealed that as a result of the innovative project advanced negotiations are already underway to produce the MODULO bus family to Eastern markets. Based on the long tradition and past experience of the NABI factory that was repurchased from the Americans, they are already planning the steps for the next development phase for mass production.