Rimini may buy over a hundred electric buses

Public transit company Start Romagna has launched new tenders totalling bids for 114 electric buses in Rimini, Northern Italy. There are two lots with a combined value of nearly 107 million euros, and applications are open now.

Start Romagna set the deadline on 6 September 2023 with an invitation to bid for a maximum of 114 e-buses in two lots. The initial order will comprise 33 electric vehicles with options for 82.

Specifically, starting purchases will be 21 buses measuring 12 metres (optionally 35 more) and eleven with a length of eight metres (optionally 47 more). The larger lot is worth over 61 million; the smaller bus lots have a budget of 45.2 million euros.

The two lots can be awarded to the same bidder, according to the operator, and both bids must include a full-service contract that covers the entire life cycle of the vehicles.

Recharging is limited to “strictly overnight,” adds Start Romagna, likely to avoid installing pantographs or overhead wires en route.

The operator may also already have charging depots since the new lots are not the first foray into electric buses. Turkish manufacturer Karsan has previously delivered 27 E-Atak buses to Start Romagna.

Rimini is also one among many Italian cities targeting a transition to electric public transport.
In the current year alone, there have been large orders for Iveco Bus from Busitalia, Autoguidovie, and most recently from GTT in Turin, a city also expecting e-buses from Quantron. Solaris will also deliver nearly 100 electric buses to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, as reported. The public transport operator Atac in Rome has (again) invited tenders to procure 411 electric buses. Other e-bus orders from Italy were booked by Rampini in 2023 and Mercedes-Benz, in this case for fuel cell buses.

Most tenders came through the central procurement agency Consip.

Start Romagna does not mention Consip in today’s news but said the order was in line with “National plans”.

autobusweb.com (in Italian), ted.europa.eu (the tender)