St. Gallen cancela el contrato de autobuses con Ebusco

The St. Gallen public transport company (VBSG) has announced that it is cancelling the supply contract signed with Ebusco in the spring for twelve electric buses and putting the procurement of the vehicles out to tender again. The dozen electric buses were actually due to hit the streets of St. Gallen from 2025.

This timetable is unlikely to be met even with another manufacturer. The reason given by VBSG is that the Dutch bus manufacturer failed to fulfil various contractual obligations due to its difficult economic situation. The framework conditions for the new tender are currently being finalised internally. Ebusco’s competitors are thus being given another chance.

For the Dutch company, this is just one of many recent setbacks. In September, the Scandinavian transport company Connect Bus cancelled an order for 47 electric buses from Ebusco in favour of BYD as the new supplier.

The background to this is that Ebusco has been struggling for stability for months. In terms of personnel, there has been a lot of movement: At the beginning of September, Christian Schreyer succeeded the previous management duo Peter Bijvelds and Michiel Peters as sole CEO. There were also personnel changes on the Supervisory Board. The new appointments are related, among other things, to a newly developed reorganisation plan to lead Ebusco back into calmer waters.

A ray of hope remains: In November, it became public that the Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech was investing in Ebusco. Shortly afterwards, the company realised proceeds of 36 million euros with a share issue, which the company management described as “essential for the continued existence of the company.” This was because the company’s balance sheet presented prior to the initiated reorganisation was striking: Ebsuco recorded a loss of over 60 million euros in the first half of the year alone. Although the company has over 1,600 electric buses on its order books, it was only able to deliver 98 vehicles in the first two quarters.

stadt.sg.ch (en alemán)