Following a Europe-wide tender from Stadtwerke Ulm / Neu-Ulm Verkehr GmbH (SWU), Daimler Buses has been awarded the contract to supply 37 battery-electric Mercedes‑Benz eCitaro and eCitaro G solo and articulated buses. The contract includes the option of a further nine eCitaro electric buses. SWU’s total investment for all 46 electric buses amounts to 34.6 million euros.
The 37 battery-electric vehicles will be delivered successively by the end of 2026, and the optional nine vehicles are planned for use from 2027. The new electric buses will gradually replace the existing diesel buses in the SWU bus fleet and will be used for public transport in the two towns of Ulm and Neu-Ulm on the Danube. There are already 14 eCitaro G articulated buses in operation, procured by SWU in 2024 and 2025. The 37 new electric buses are divided into 15 three-door, 12.14-metre-long eCitaro solo buses and 22 four-door eCitaro G articulated buses with a length of 18.3 metres. They offer a transport capacity of up to 65 passengers in the solo buses and up to 143 passengers in the articulated buses. The new electric buses also improved accessibility and enlarged special use areas for wheelchairs, prams or walking aids. Climate control is provided by a CO2 air conditioning system with thermal management. The buses are equipped with the latest lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt battery generation (NMC4), with 111 kWh of energy per battery pack. Charging is up to 300 kW, using sockets or a pantograph on the bus
roof. A roof-mounted camera system helps the driver to approach the pantograph charging station with maximum precision. Assistance systems Sideguard Assist 2, Frontguard Assist, active emergency braking assistant, Traffic Sign Assist and Preventive Brake Assist 2 are on board. Daimler Buses has equipped the new SWU electric buses with the Digital Services Package from Omniplus, a telemetry-based vehicle diagnostic systems. This digital solution permanently monitors all relevant vehicle systems and provides both fleet management and the workshop with important diagnostic information in real time including Battery Monitoring. SWU also uses Omniplus On data packages to integrate vehicle and diagnostic data from the eCitaro into the existing fleet and workshop management systems of other providers. The contract was signed on 18 July 2025 at the Ulm Town Hall Square by Klaus Eder, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Ulm/Neu-Ulm GmbH, Ralf Gummersbach, Managing Director of SWU Verkehr, and Till Oberwörder, CEO of Daimler Buses.