The Court of Auditors has given the green light to purchase the first 250 electric 12-metre buses. These come from Chinese manufacturer Yutong, as Greek media reports. Each vehicle is said to cost 440,720 euros net. Including the seven chargers, the total order comes to a value of 110.8 million euros. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in early 2024.
“Urban transportation, both in Athens and in Thessaloniki, is decisively turning to electrification,” said Secretary General for Transport Yannis Xifaras in an interview with the portal ERT. He also said the 250 vehicles will be delivered six months after the order.
According to Greece’s Transport Minister Christos Staikouras, the government is ready to launch the next tender for an additional 400 buses. A second procurement phase for an additional 650 buses is already being prepared.
A total of 1,300 new buses are to be procured for Athens and Thessaloniki, most of which will be electrically powered. As early as 2020, the Polish manufacturer Solaris had hoped for large orders from Greece. In the first round, however, Yutong was the preferred manufacturer.
Sources: greekcitytimes, gtp
