1,000 electric buses up for grabs in Italy within a state-backed centralized tender. The procurement is set to be issued on 27th October by CONSIP (the central purchasing department of the Italian public administration), that earlier this year has awarded a similar amount of gas-powered buses. The news is reported on Italian media Autobusweb.

The initiative will allow public administrations to take over the vehicles, taking advantage of the resources provided by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

This initiative is part of a broader catalogue of ‘ready-to-use’ contracts for the purchase of different types of city and suburban buses, with different fuels for a total of 2,900 vehicles (of which more than 60% have alternative fuels – electric, methane, hybrid). On these contracts, the administrations have already made purchases for 1,700 vehicles (of which more than 50 per cent with alternative fuels), while the number of vehicles that can be ordered to date is about 1,200.

Highlights

The bus industry’s smartphone moment

On 18 March 1895, at 6:25 in the morning, the world’s first motor bus line opened between Siegen, Netphen and Deuz. The vehicle was a Benz Landauer. It had eight seats, a one-cylinder engine of five horsepower, and fifteen kilometres of bad road ahead of it. On the steepest hill, the passengers had ...

Related articles