It must be electric bus season again. After Thomas Built announced their all-electric school bus, Mercedes-Benz started the countdown to zero-emission buses. By the end of next year, Mercedes will start production of a bus with an electric drive system based on their existing bus platform the Mercedes-Benz Citaro.

The company celebrated the production of their 50,000 Citaro recently. They’ve already been experimenting with hybrid bus technology with their Citaro G BlueTec Hybrid. The new Citaro is going to borrow the Hybrid’s wheel hub motors at the rear-axel. Energy for the bus will come with a newly designed modular lithium-ion battery pack. The modular design means that each bus could be customized to meet the specific range requirements of the route it's built to run.