IVECO BUS, a brand of Iveco Group N.V. (MI: IVG), has signed a framework agreement with the Flemish government-owned public transport enterprise De Lijn for the sale of a first batch of 65 E-WAY full electric city buses and further batches up to a total of 500 vehicles.
The vehicles will be deployed in several cities in Flanders, with deliveries beginning in 2024 and potentially continuing over six years. All together they will come to represent the largest fleet of IVECO BUS articulated electric buses in operation.
The E-WAY bus, with 800 units already in operation that have completed 42 million km, is renowned for its technical qualities and economic performance. Available in 4 different lengths, it offers a choice of overnight slow charging or fast charging using a pantograph. The 18m-long articulated units for De Ljin will be equipped with a unique high-performance battery pack assembled at the new FPT Industrial ePowertrain plant in Turin, the manufacturing site fully dedicated to the production of Iveco Group’s electric powertrain range and its first totally carbon-neutral plant.
“IVECO BUS was among the pioneers on the frontier of electric mobility. We invested significantly to develop a complete range of emission-free mobility products and services. This new agreement – which follow the recent one with Busitalia and brings the number of our electric buses ordered to up to 2,000, for 60 customers in 14 different European countries – confirms that our offer is widely appreciated and that our strategy is a winning one”, said Domenico Nucera, President Bus Business Unit, Iveco Group.
“Thanks to this first order of articulated full electric buses, we confirm our full commitment in offering an ever more sustainable mobility wherever we operate. For this next step towards zero emissions solutions, we chose IVECO BUS, a well-known manufacturer in this field, and its E-WAY 18m-long, that best met our expectations in terms of range, comfort and safety, both for our passengers and drivers”, commented Ann Schoubs, Managing Director of De Lijn.