A €40 million investment from European funds has been announced to electrify the public transport fleet.

Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Ian Borg has launched a pilot project of solar panels that are installed on the roofs of vehicles, which is being tested by Zarb Coaches together with Malta Public Transport.

It was explained that through these solar panels the vehicles will be producing less CO2 emissions and will save litres of diesel every year. Locally, it is expected that through these solar panels, diesel consumption will decrease by 8-10% per year.

With an 800Wp solar panel it is expected that the annual electricity production from CIGS solar cells will be 1000 kWh where for every kWh it is expected that a liter of diesel will be saved while for every liter of diesel it is expected that saved 2.68kg of CO2 emissions.

This means that 1000 litres of diesel are expected to be saved on an annual scale, which then amounts to a reduction of 2,680kg of CO2 emissions, the Minister said.

Zarb Coaches is also currently undergoing a study on another technology called PHI CELL TECHNOLOGY which is intended to be installed on the inside of vehicles and which aims to purify the air and the inside of vehicles.

Photo: DOI/Pierre Sammut

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