37 Heuliez e-buses ordered in the Aix-Marseille-Provence in France. Up to 50 units to be in operation

An order for up to 50 electric buses Heuliez GX 337 Elec has been achieved by the French brand in the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolitan area, where public transport operations are managed by Keolis Pays d’Aix. The first four vehicles went into service at the beginning of 2020. Now a new order has been signed for 37 units, in the framework of the above mentioned 50 vehicles agreement.

It is worth mentioning that the e-buses made by Heuliez (CNH Group) are branded since 2020 as Iveco E-way range. And the 12-meter Iveco E-way bus achieved a record performance of 527 km a single charge.

Heuliez e-buses in Aix-Marseille-Provence

In total, 50 battery-electric buses Heuliez GX 337 Elec, with a length of 12 meters, are to be put in operation by Keolis Pays d’Aix in the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolitan area by the end of 2022. Delivery of this batch of 37 vehicles will take until late 2021.

Heuliez Bus resulted one of the three winners of the largest call for tender on e-buses issued in Europe so far, in Paris and is already delivering vehicles in the French capital city following a previous tender. In early 2020 Heuliez Bus delivered 11 GX 447 Elec in Norway. Large order has been received also in the Netherlands.

Equipped with a 350 kWh NMC battery adapted for depot charging (batteries on the Heuliez e-bus range are provided by Forsee Power), the buses are driven with a 160 kW electric synchronous motor. Motor supplier is BAE Systems, although the option of Siemens central motor is to be provided, according to information released by Heuliez Bus in late 2019. On the 12-meter e-bus there are up to 27 seats. The buses are produced at the Heuliez Bus factory in Rorthais, where at the end of 2019, before Covid-19 breakthrough, there were plans to produce as many as 500 buses in 2020, on third of the being electric.