Hess to take over from Van Hool to deliver electric buses for Greater Paris

Of the 56 units once ordered, only a handful of Van Hool’s electric buses have so far arrived in the French capital region. The bankruptcy of the Belgian company caught the French off guard in the spring. As the French portal Ville Rail & Transport reports, Hess is now to be awarded the contract to complete the remaining e-buses. The background to this is that VDL – as one of the buyers of Van Hool – is only continuing to operate as part of the Van Hool bus business. This does not include the production of the new double-articulated electric buses.

The following digression: although the 24-metre-long electric buses themselves come from Van Hool, there is a consortium behind the launch: Kiepe Electric is contributing the battery system and the associated SRS system, a ground-based charging solution, is being provided by Alstom. The Île-de-France region has already emerged as a hotspot for the first commercial use of the technology in 2021. The public transport authority Île-de-France Mobilités awarded the contract to the consortium of Van Hool, Kiepe Electric and Alstom to build a fleet of electric double-articulated buses. The extra-long buses were to be used on two new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines between Viry-Chatillon and Corbeil-Essonnes and between Paris and Choisy-le-Roi. A framework agreement for “at least 56 units” followed in spring 2022.

According to information provided by Île-de-France Mobilités at the time, these were the first 24-metre-long electric double-articulated buses in the capital region. The vehicles should combine the advantages of a tram with those of a road bus and be able to carry around 140 passengers. On most of the routes mentioned, the buses travel in their own lanes and are given priority at traffic lights. The line between Viry-Chatillon and Corbeil-Essonnes, named Tzen 4, will replace the existing line 402 – currently the busiest line in the Paris region. The second line – Tzen 5 – is a new bus route that will connect the 13th arrondissement of Paris with Choisy-le-Roi via Ivry-sur-Seine and Vitry-sur-Seine in just under 33 minutes.

In the report by Ville Rail & Transport, the agreement with Hess is now only associated with the Tzen-4 vehicles. There is therefore talk of 30 units, five of which have already been delivered. The Swiss manufacturer is now said to be waiting to gain access to the remaining 25 units, which are currently at the former Van Hool plant in Koningshooikt and still need to be fitted with drive systems and technical equipment. An agreement between Ile-de-France Mobilités and the bankruptcy trustees of Van Hool is said to be a prerequisite for access. However, according to the portal, this has now been reached and only needs to be formalised. Delivery is now expected to take place in mid-2025.

sustainable-bus.com, ville-rail-transports.com (in French)