Contractor for the new 250 strong electric bus fleet in Athens and Thessaloniki to be selected shortly

The tender for the 650 electric buses is showing momentum as, according to information, the contractor for the supply of the 250 electric buses that will circulate on the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki will be decided in the next few days. At the same time, as expected, IVECO also sealed the deal about the natural gas buses while the other two tenders are also proceeding.

The most important news in the field of the tender of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, is that within the next few days the temporary contractor in the section of 250 electric buses will be announced. The two competing companies are the Spanish IRIZAR and the Chinese YUTONG BUS.

They will be the first electric buses to circulate on the streets of the two major Greek cities. Of course, to be precise, Athens has had electric buses for decades, as the trolleys run on electricity, only this time they will be “freed” from the connection to the power cables.

This is the most important and most expensive section of the competition as its budget is estimated at 154.62 million euros. The buses will have a range of 180 kilometers and will be classic twelve-meter buses. IRIZAR is represented in Greece by the Sarakakis group, while YUTONG is represented by the Kopelouzos group.

The other important news is that we officially have the first provisional contractor in the multiple tender as IVECO has been named provisional contractor for the 100 compressed natural gas (CNG) EURO VI buses.

The buses will be 18-meter articulated and their cost has been budgeted at 53.32 million euros. IVECO is represented in Greece by P. Kontellis SA.

The other two sections are also progressing

However, we will have developments in the other two sections of the multiple tender of the Ministry of Infrastructure for the supply of 650 buses. According to information, the minutes of the technical evaluation for these two departments are imminent. As long as we have no appeals, the temporary contractors will be announced by March.

One concerns the supply of 200 ordinary 12-meter EURO VI compressed natural gas (CNG) city buses worth 73.16 million euros. IVECO and ITA are involved here. It will be interesting to see if the multinational Italian company does two in two or if the Italian ITA also wins this contract.

The same for the additional 100 simple electric city vehicles of 12 meters with a minimum range of 135 km in the amount of 56.26 million euros. IVECO, BYD, IRIZAR, VAN HOOL participate. The Chinese BYD is represented by P.PETROPOULOS SA, while the Belgian VAN HOOL is represented by Afoi Dimokas.

Let us recall that since last May, the part of the tender for 100 simple city buses of 12 meters with hybrid technology was canceled as no offer was submitted. The budget of this department was 46.12 million euros.

The Question of contractualizations

The tenders are progressing but as it seems before the elections we will hardly have signatures for the contracts for the 250 electric buses and the 100 natural gas ones that have been advanced.

To make it possible, the pre-contractual procedures should be run, that is, the contracts should be sent to the Court of Auditors and approved in record time and presented without delay to the Parliament. The pressure of time is suffocating but the possibilities are there.

For the other two sections, i.e. the 200 twelve meters of natural gas and the other 100 modular electric ones, the time is practically not sufficient to close the pre-election tenders and sign the contracts.

The supply of the vehicles will take place within 520-580 days and this means that a total of 650 buses will have been delivered over a period of 1.5 years, i.e. approximately until the end of 2024.

Funding will come from two sources, the NSRF and the Recovery Fund. In the second, about 6 months ago, the financing for the 250 electric buses was included.