Volvo Buses starts demonstration runs of electric city bus in Latin America

Volvo Buses has started demonstration runs of its all-electric city bus in real-world operation in Latin America. The Volvo BZL Electric will initially be used on two routes in Curitiba, Brazil.

Further demonstrations will follow successively in São Paulo (Brazil), Bogotá (Colombia) and Santiago (Chile), according to the manufacturer. The BZL Electric is not a specific model, but a chassis for electric buses. This platform, on which both single and double-decker buses can be based, was first presented by Volvo Buses in September 2021. We have summarised all details about the platform, the drives and batteries in the article on the premiere.

The examples now on the road in Curitiba have four of five possible batteries and use the single-engine configuration with 200 kW power. The two buses use a body from Marcopolo, are 12.6 metres long, offer space for 80 passengers and are built according to the requirements of the local public transport operator URBS. The two routes on which the buses operate connect several parts of the city and are used by 135,000 people every day.

“The performance of Volvo electric buses in Europe and in several countries on other continents is very positive. Now we are going to show that this performance will be repeated in the challenging conditions we have in Latin America,” says Alexandre Selski, director of electric mobility at Volvo Buses in Latin America.

In June, Volvo Buses had already presented an all-electric city bus for the Mexican market, which is manufactured locally. The model, called Luminus, is also based on the BZL Electric chassis.

volvobuses.com