For many tourists, a carriage ride through the historic centre is a special highlight of a city trip. But the species-appropriate keeping of carriage horses involves considerable efforts and high costs, and it takes an experienced driver to safely steer the animals through the traffic. Carriages from Aagland, equipped with electric drive technology from Linde Material Handling, provide an attractive alternative. Europe’s leading manufacturer of electric counterbalance trucks will be presenting such a carriage at the MobiliTec trade show for the first time.

The company Aagland has been building carriages that are not drawn by horses for some time now. They are used for sightseeing tours in city centres, for country outings or for shuttle services offered by hotels. In the past, these carriages, seating two or five passengers, used to be powered by diesel engines. At the SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg, Aagland became aware of Linde’s electric drive technology solutions last autumn and decided to cooperate with the Electronic Systems & Drives (ES&D) unit which is part of the industrial truck manufacturer’s New Business & Products division.

The ES&D unit makes Linde Material Handling’s expertise in the development and manufacture of electric drive systems available to external suppliers – for example, in the form of pre-built eco-Kits that are offered in three variants S, M and L with a maximum motor power of 16, 32 and 50 kilowatts respectively. In collaboration with Aagland, the engineers from ES&D developed the E-Aaglander, a VIS A VIS type carriage for up to five passengers. Now an eco-Kit S replaces both the horses and the diesel engine. It consists of an asynchronous motor with a maximum power of 16 kilowatts and torque of 70 Newton meters, installed on the rear axle of the carriage, as well as a power module, a LINC1 control unit and Central Electric from Linde. All drive components come from the company’s mass production for electric industrial trucks and have proved their worth many times over.

The E-Aaglander uses a 48V and 400Ah battery that lasts for eight hours of use before it has to be recharged. The vehicle reaches a maximum speed of 20 km/h, which allows the passengers to enjoy the view in peace. All it takes to drive the carriage is a normal car driver‘s licence.

Linde and Aagland developed the E-Aaglander within a few months. Richard Gebert, managing partner of Aagland is delighted with the result. “Our newly developed type VIS A VIS is even more fulfilling the promise made by the Aaglander slogan ‘Luxury of Slowness’ since the sonorous noise of the diesel engine is gone. Thus the passengers experience a completely new feeling of gliding along – without pollutive emissions,” he explains the concept behind the vehicle.

Even in the run-up to the vehicle’s presentation at the MobiliTec trade show, Aagland received a number of orders for the electrically driven carriage. Hoteliers, event organizers and municipalities are enthusiastic about the vehicle. As a further step, Linde and Aagland will equip the “Duc” type two-seater carriages with electric drives too.