Trials are underway at Vilnius Airport of a Lithuanian-designed and built electric bus known as Dancer.

The Dancer prototype is being developed by Elektrinio transporto sistemos a subsidiary of the Vėjo Projektai group, in a project backed by the European Union Regional Development Fund.

Elektrinio transporto sistemos, Vilnius Airport and ground handling company Litcargus are collaborating on the trial, enabling the testing of the bus in real operating conditions for passenger transport.

“We are already seeing a number of initiatives in Europe – electric airport buses, electric taxis serving passengers, and interest in the deployment of other alternative fuel vehicles. The Dancer bus at Vilnius Airport is a great example of this. We are even more happy that this passenger bus is the product of a Lithuanian company,” said Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis.

According to Alvydas Naujėkas, CEO of Vėjo Projektai, the results of the trials will be used to improve the technological parameters and construction of the vehicle.

“Aviation is always at the forefront of developing innovative transport solutions. By producing the lightest electric bus on the market, Dancer, we also learned from composite fibre masters who worked in the Airbus aviation cluster in Germany. Therefore, cooperation in testing the bus at the airport can bring positive results in the development of new technological solutions not only in the field of electric transport, but also in aviation,” he explained.

The 12m Dancer prototype has 32 seats and 56 standing places, two of which can be transformed into a single seat for a disabled person. The bus body is made of composite material containing recycled PET plastic. Due to its extremely light weight, less energy is required to drive Dancer, so energy consumption is on average 0.72kWh per km travelled.