Turkey’s Karsan counts electric bus orders in Romania
Karsan is racking up electric bus orders in Romania as they receive another order for 26 electric buses. The city of Deva expects 22 e-Jest minibuses from the Turkish manufacturer and four electric buses of type e-Atak from mid-2022. Karsan’s sales of electric buses in Romania now stand at 158 units.
These are the first electric buses Deva and its 60,000 inhabitants will see but not the first buses from Karsan. The Turkish manufacturer has previously delivered diesel-powered Jest buses to Deva. So now, the six-metre model will run entirely electrically.
Deva ordered 22 e-Jest buses, and each boasts 125 kW of power, 290 Nm of torque, and a choice of 44 or 88 kWh battery capacity. Karsan quotes a range of up to 210 kilometres. The current order from Romania also includes four e-Atak midibuses measuring eight metres. The drive delivers 230 kW, 2,500 Nm and up to 220 kWh (up to five battery packs of 44 kWh each). These buses claim to travel up to 300 kilometres and charge with either 80 kW DC or up to 44 kW AC. However, it remains unclear which battery configurations Deva has chosen in each case.
Karsan is renowned in the small bus segment. At the same time, they extended the electric bus line-up this September when debuting the e-ATA range, offered in lengths of ten, twelve and 18 metres. Production has already started in Turkey. Different from the e-Jest and e-Atak models for which Karsan utilises BMW i3 batteries, the new line comes with LFP cells.
The company has also taken its first order for 66 new buses from Romania. According to Karsan CEO Okan Baş, this was “the largest export of electric buses from Turkey to date.” While the first ten smaller e-buses will go to Slatina the December, the 18-meter articulated e-ATA will go to two unnamed cities in 2022.
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