Iveco Bus receives two orders from France

The French community of Grand Reims in the east of the country has ordered 20 articulated electric buses from Iveco Bus. The manufacturer will also supply 19 hydrogen buses to the municipal association Lorient Agglomération.

Iveco Bus will deliver 20 units of the 18-metre-long GX 437 Elec Linium BRT, which should go into operation next autumn. The deal also includes an option for an additional nine units. The electric bus can accommodate up to 142 people and has a camera rearview system instead of exterior mirrors.

The abbreviation BRT stands for Bus Rapid Transit, meaning these are special vehicles for express bus routes. The 20 Ivecos will be deployed on two BRT lines from autumn 2025. Line 1 connects the future NEOMA Business School/ESAD campus with the University of Reims Champagne Ardenne – running via the main railway station along an important axis in the city centre. Line 2 connects Reims Central Station and the town of Cormontreuil and runs through the Châtillons neighbourhood, which is being redeveloped as part of the urban renewal project.

Mobility will be in charge of infrastructure. A total of 32 charge points will be installed at the Huet depot, “matching [its] long-term capacity to accommodate electric vehicles.” Moreover, Mobility will install “Cway monitoring and smart charging software” to help the network operator optimise charging.

The second French order for Iveco Bus will not require charging software. The Lorient Agglomération has ordered 19 GX 337 H2 hydrogen buses in the Linium BRT version from Iveco Bus. The first five will be added to the IziLo network in the second half of 2025, and the rest will follow in stages.

These are also BRT buses and are equipped with a 100 kW fuel cell from Hyundai. Together with the 69 kWh buffer battery from FPT Industrial, the four hydrogen tanks should enable a range of up to 450 kilometres.

What is special here is how the hydrogen will be refuelled. The municipal association has already started building a hydrogen distribution station in 2023. The renewable hydrogen will not be refuelled there within a few minutes – as is usually the case with hydrogen – but slowly over a period of four hours. However, the ‘filling station’ has 19 refuelling points so that all buses can be supplied with new hydrogen at the same time overnight.

ivecogroup.com (Grand Reims), ivecogroup.com (Lorient)