PistenBully, celebrating their 50th birthday this year, has just unveiled the world’s first all-electric slope groomer at the Interalpin 2019 trade fair in Innsbruck, appealing to the growing number of resorts taking their carbon footprint seriously.
PistenBully 100 E is an improvement on the 2012 600 E+ which used a combined diesel/electric drive. In an attempt to shift away from fossil fuels, resorts are turning to electric powered snowmaking and lift equipment, but until now diesel had always been required to power groomers.
The 100 E has a disappointing average driving time of up to 3 hours, but the aim will be to increase this as technology advances. The groomer has been successfully tested on the snow and has convincingly passed the first test drives.
