IVECO BUS 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. It is the first order of articulated full electric buses De Lijn has awarded. The vehicles will be deployed in several cities in Flanders, with deliveries beginning in 2024 and potentially continuing over six years.
The E-WAY bus, with 800 units already in operation that have completed 42 million km. The 18m-long articulated units for De Lijn will be equipped with a 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. It is Iveco's first totally carbon-neutral plant. The 18-metre-long articulated E-WAY has an emission-free autonomy of more than 300 km on a single charge. The buses are charged with a CCS2 plug at the depot. “For Iveco Belgium, this is the second large order from De Lijn and we are convinced that these buses will be very much appreciated by the passengers, which is of course the most important thing.” says Paul Mechele, Business Director Brand Iveco Benelux. These E-WAY buses for De Lijn have a bright interior with (artificial) leather seats and an imitation wooden floor covering,
optimized climate control, USB charging points, LED lighting, 3 modern XL screens with real-time information and an electric ramp for prams and wheelchairs. “This new agreement which follow the recent one with Busitalia, brings the number of our electric buses ordered to up to 2,000, for 60 customers in 14 different European countries”, said Domenico Nucera, President Bus Business Unit, Iveco Group. All together this order from De Lijn will represent the largest fleet of IVECO BUS articulated electric buses in operation. “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”, commented Ann Schoubs, Managing Director of De Lijn. The buses will be delivered in the first half of 2024. The order worth 48 million euros is financed from De Lijn's investment resources.