Irizar to deliver further electric buses to Barcelona

The Spanish bus manufacturer Irizar e-mobility has delivered seven electric buses to the public transport operator Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB). These are 12-metre Irizar ie vehicles, which will be used in Spain's second largest city from now on. TMB has also launched a tender for further electric buses.

The model is equipped with a 185 kW electric drive and is expected to have a range of up to 350 kilometres. The seven new electric buses complement the existing fleet of 79 electric buses already operated by Irizar in Barcelona.

Public transport operator Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) is one of the pioneers of electromobility and started testing two electric buses, also of the Irizar ie type, back in 2014. Today, TMB has a fleet of 196 battery-electric buses and around 46 hydrogen buses with fuel cells, most of which are supplied by Solaris. According to TMB, more than 25 per cent of the entire bus fleet is already emission-free.

Furthermore, the zero-emission fleet is to be expanded even more: Today, TMB announced a tender for 19 electric articulated buses (18 metres in length). TMB President Laia Bonet explained: “With this tender, we are reaffirming our commitment to a zero-emission bus fleet.”

Parallel to the tender for the new electric articulated buses, TMB has awarded the purchase of 18 electric double-decker vehicles to the Spanish manufacturer UNVI, which are to be used for the Barcelona Bus Turístic service. The Chinese manufacturer Yutong received an order for five electric minibuses to be used for the Bus del Barri service. Both vehicle types have already been extensively tested and the contract only needs to be formalised. TMB expects these vehicles to arrive by the end of the year.

In December, TMB also announced that it is testing an articulated fuel cell bus from Daimler Buses, the eCitaro G fuel cell, which we have already presented in more detail here. The bus is battery-powered and uses a fuel cell as a range extender. The eCitaro G fuel cell has six battery packs with a total capacity of 392 kWh and a fuel cell from Toyota with an output of 60 kWh. The hydrogen tanks are housed on the roof and have a usable volume of 30 kg, which in combination with the electricity from the battery packs enables a range of up to 400 km. It is not yet known whether TMB will also order this bus.

irizar-emobility.com, tmb.cat (in Catalan)