Sofia to finally get its 30 electric buses
The Bulgarian capital Sofia has announced the procurement of 30 electric buses and ten charging stations. The order goes to the Bulgarian-Chinese bidding consortium of Chariot Motors and Higer Bus, which prevailed over Solaris.
In Sofia, two previous tenders for electric buses failed. The first tender had to be stopped due to a technical error in the documentation, and in the second tender for 52 e-buses at that time, only one valid bid was received for each of the two tendered lots.
Now in its third attempt, the city seems to be sure to get its cleaner air as promised. As reported by the news site SeeNews that specializes in Southeast Europe, the Sofia Public Electrical Transport Company signed a purchase agreement with the bidding consortium of Chariot Motors and Higer Bus last week. In its bid, the consortium had budgeted 33.7 million leva net for the 30 vehicles and ten charging stations, or the equivalent of 17.2 million euros.
The second bidder, Polish bus manufacturer Solaris, is said to have demanded 46 million leva, or 23.5 million euros, for its models and the charging infrastructure. Other participants in the tendering process had previously been sorted out by the Sofia Public Electrical Transport Company and had not submitted a final bid.
Technology from Germany is also used in the vehicles marketed as the Chariot electric bus. Two drives are offered in the twelve-meter solo bus: A centrally installed electric motor from Siemens with 180 kW, the PSM offers up to 28.00 Nm torque and is combined with a ZF axle. Alternatively, a system with two 125 kW wheel hub motors from ZF is also available.
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