The Turkish manufacturer Karsan has won a tender to supply 100 electric buses to the capital of Bucharest, Romania. The winning bid concluded a tender that had failed twice before.
Bucharest had to relaunch the tender for the 100 battery buses in June 2022, having failed twice before due to a lack of suitable offers. Today’s announcement of success came on the Facebook page of Mayor Nicusor Dan. According to the mayor, the contract can be signed after the 10-day period for submitting appeals, and the delivery term is ten months from the signing of the contract.
Local reports also said the deal is worth RON 293 mn without VAT (nearly €60 mn), covered with non-reimbursable European funds through the Regional Operational Program.
Karsan did not specify which model they would deliver. The spec, however, remained unchanged from the initial tender, with Bucharest expecting 12-metre low-floor buses with three double doors and air conditioning. The range was given as 522.49 km between two successive charges today coming from a traction battery. This means Karsan will deliver e-Ata buses. The e-ATA range, offered in lengths of ten, twelve and 18 metres, is Karsan’s first move away from minibuses. Unlike the e-Jest and e-Atak models for which Karsan utilises BMW i3 batteries, the e-ATA line comes with LFP cells.
In addition, Bucharest procured 100 trolleybuses and placed an order with the Polish manufacturer Solaris. Solaris shall deliver the buses that rely on overhead lines within 22 months of the contract signing.
romania-insider.com, facebook.com (in Romanian)