ATM Milan 110-units electric bus tender: Karsan tops provisional ranking ahead of BYD

Karsan has ranked first in the provisional evaluation of ATM Milan’s tender for 110 battery-electric buses, with BYD Europe in second place while the procurement enters the administrative verification phase, as reported on Italian trade media (and our sister platform) Autobusweb.

ATM Milan has completed the technical and financial evaluation of its tender for the supply of 110 12-metre battery-electric buses, launched in March 2026, with Italian Karsan distributor KMobility achieving the highest combined score in the provisional ranking. According to the official minutes of the evaluation committee meeting held on 24 July, however, “the Commission suspended its assessment of the company in order to activate the clarification procedure required by law, postponing the evaluation to a subsequent session following receipt of the requested documentation.”

The procurement concerns a framework agreement for the supply of 110 fully low-floor, 12-metre battery-electric buses together with a full-service maintenance package, for an estimated value of more than €103 million.

Kmobility leads technical and overall evaluation

According to the official communication published on 24 July, the evaluation committee reviewed the technical offers submitted by seven bidders and requested clarifications from all participants before completing the assessment. K-Mobility obtained the highest technical score with 54.296 points, followed by BYD Europe with 53.003 and Yutong’s dealer Powerbus, in consortium with Yutong France, with 52.635. Solaris Italia scored 49.250 points, followed by YES-EU Italy (distributor of CRRC buses) with 48.986, Iveco with 38.082 and Daimler Buses Italia with 36.800.

KMobility, part of the Maurelli Group, has been responsible for marketing Karsan buses in Italy since 2024. The company has recently secured a contract for 42 electric buses for Bari’s BRT network. In 2022, Karsan was also awarded TPER’s tender for articulated battery-electric buses (see picture).

Financial evaluation reshuffles the ranking

Following the opening of the financial offers, the committee assigned the overall scores in accordance with the tender rules. While the top two positions remained unchanged, the financial evaluation altered the remainder of the provisional ranking as below:

• K-Mobility – 88.314
• BYD Europe – 83.271
• YES-EU Italy – 74.374
• Powerbus (in consortium with Yutong France) – 71.444
• Solaris Italia – 69.909
• Iveco – 56.339
• Daimler Buses Italia – 56.065

While K-Mobility and BYD maintained the top two positions after the financial evaluation, YES-EU Italy climbed from fifth in the technical assessment to third overall, overtaking both Powerbus and Solaris.

Administrative verification underway

After drawing up the provisional ranking, the committee proceeded to examine the administrative documentation submitted by K-Mobility as the first-ranked bidder.

According to the official minutes, the committee suspended its assessment of the company’s administrative documentation in order to activate the clarification procedure (“soccorso istruttorio”) provided for under Italian public procurement law. The procedure allows contracting authorities to request supplementary or clarifying administrative documentation before completing the verification process. The committee will reconvene at a later session to assess the additional documentation received.