11 Heuliez GX 437 Elec make their way in Norway. Full electric delivery to Tide Bus

11 battery-electric buses from Heuliez Bus have been delivered in Norway, where the operator Tide Buss has chosen the French manufacturer for the supply of zero emission vehicles in Trondheim, known as a pioneer city in sustainable transportation with the largest electric bus fleet in Norway. It’s no surprise that the same operator is operating biogas and biodiesel buses, while turning also to zero emission applications.

Opportunity charging for Heuliez Bus in Norway

The electric buses provided by Heuliez Bus will run on Line 12: Dragvoll-Sentrum-St.Olavs/Oya, entirely emission free. All the 11 vehicles have been delivered. These 18 meter long electric buses are equipped for opportunity charge at terminus. Battery is based on LTO formula (Lithium Titanate Oxide), suitable for quick charging. The electric motor, from BAE Systems, delivers a peak power of 200 kW. The buses receive a fast charge of few minutes using a top-down pantograph.

A bright 2020 for Heuliez Bus

The same vehicles will be in operation in 49 units in the Groningen-Drenthe concession managed by Qbuzz in the Netherlands. Deliveries are underway. And in 2020 Heuliez Bus expects to produce 500 buses (as in the record year 2013) in the plant of Rorthais (France). More than one third of them will be electrically driven and belonging to the range GX Elec (137, 347 or 437).

Reportedly, Heuliez Bus management has communicated a figure of 439 buses produced in Rorthais during 2019. A trade union spokesman said to Ouest France that «We are satisfied with the number of orders and the production which is consistent. In 2020, we are going to manufacture three vehicles per day and we should reach the levels of 2013, a record year with more than 500 vehicles per year». What is more, more than one third of the production will be made of electric buses.