The so-called non-contact trolleybuses (trolleybuses equipped with electricity storage system) are expected to appear on the roads in Tajik capital soon.
“Initially, the Dushanbe administration plans to purchase four such trolleybuses, costing approximately 250,000 U.S. dollars each, and they will appear on the roads in Dushanbe in late March,” an official source in Dushanbe administration told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has allocated funds for buying those trolleybuses. 50 percent of the funds have reportedly been provided in the form of loan and 50 percent of them have been provided in the form of grant.
The trolleybuses are being purchased in the framework of the Dushanbe Public Transport Extension Project, financed by the EBRD.
Dushanbe State Communal Unitary Trolleybus Company intends using the proceeds of a loan from the EBRD and a grant from the EBRD’s SSF for a project extension to further rehabilitate trolleybus infrastructure in Dushanbe. The proposed project, which has a total estimated cost of US$ 8 million equivalent in particular, requires supply of 4 trolleybuses with increased autonomous run, spare parts, maintenance equipment and incidental services.
Manufactured at Belkommunmash plant in Belarus, the non-contact trolleybuses (model 32100D) are equipped with the lithium-titanate electricity storage system and the stored power is reportedly enough for up to 15 kilometers of autonomous run.
The lithium-titanate battery is a type of rechargeable battery which has the advantage of being faster to charge than other lithium-ion batteries.
