Bluebus e-buses will be back on Paris’ roads this summer after fires in 2022. Manufacturer will pay a compensation

RATP has just announced that electric Bluebus buses would be back on the roads next summer, following the withdrawal of 148 units from service in spring 2022 after two fires accident happened in a short time window. Also the vehicles delivered after April 2022 have been taken out of service until now, for a total of 232 immobilized vehicles for a two years time, as mentioned by French trade media Car&Bus News.

In May 2023 media reported of the CEO of RATP asking for compensation for the damage suffered by RATP from the Bolloré group, the manufacturer of the Bluebus.

An agreement between RATP and Bluebus

RATP, Île-de-France Mobilités and Bluebus, writes Le Figaro, have reached an agreement putting an end to the ongoing discussions. According to the other French media La Lettre, “Bluebus will have to pay a substantial bill, the amount of which was not specified, to compensate RATP“.

A month after the fires, still Le Figaro writes, the Bolloré group claimed to have found the main cause of the fires, which were attributed to “the assembly of an electronic component on a given series”.

“The most likely hypothesis for these fires is a short-circuit between cells or internal to certain cells making up the battery packs“, writes the Bureau d’enquêtes sur les accidents de transport terrestre (BEA-TT), that also recommends the introduction of “devices to warn drivers of any malfunction likely to cause a fire”. The final report of this investigation should be published in the first half of 2024.