30 China-made electric buses arrive in Pakistani capital
According to a fresh report from Pakistani publication Dawn, the 30 electric buses purchased from Higer Bus have arrived in the national capital and are at the charging point in the Jinnah Convention Center. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) will deploy it on two routes to start.
The first route will start from NUST to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). There will be 13 stops on this route. The second route will start from PIMS and conclude at Bari Imam. The electric buses in Islamabad will operate from 6 AM to 10 PM. Physically challenged people, students, and certain others will receive a subsidy.
On 5 January, Higher Bus shipped a batch of 160 “high-end” electric buses worth over 150 million yuan (approx. 19 million euros) from the Suzhou Industrial Park in China to Pakistan. This was the first time Pakistan introduced electric buses in large quantities, Higher Bus said in the announcement about its export shipment. The 30 electric buses that have arrived in Islamabad are part of this fleet.
The Higer electric buses Pakistan has imported from China feature a conventional low-floor, single-box design. They’re not futuristic and high-tech like articulated electric buses with a high passenger capacity and high-capacity flash charging seen off late in Europe. They seem to be regular ten-metre class buses and consist of a 2.3-metre high cabin with 24 seats and two folding seats in the wheelchair area. Higer Bus says they can carry more than 45 passengers in comfort.
Higer Bus hasn’t revealed the technical specifications in detail, only saying that the maximum driving range is over 250 km. The company has used cathodic electrophoresis coating on these electric buses and claims this measure would protect them from corrosion for more than ten years. LED headlights, long-strip LED roof lights, three large destination signs (one each in the front, middle, and rear), and a T-BOX system to monitor the driver behaviour and vehicle data are some more highlights of these electric buses.
Having entered Pakistan in 2006, Higer Bus has a fairly long history in China. The company sold 250 hybrid buses in the country in 2022, but the recent order of 160 electric buses is a much more significant milestone.
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