Karsan to deliver more electric buses to Italy and Romania

Let’s first look at the order from Italy. Karsan won a tender in the Campania region, where so far only eight of its buses are in service. The new deal will bring that number to 50 units there – and to 300 in all of Italy.

The newly-ordered vehicles will be delivered in two batches. However, the company does not state when these will be delivered and how many vehicles each batch will include. The Karsan e-ATAK is an 8-metre low-floor bus with room for up to 52 passengers. It is powered by a 230 kW electric motor and has a range of 300 kilometres.

The Karsan e-ATA to be delivered to Romania has a range of up to 450 kilometres, if equipped with the 600 kWh battery. The electric bus is also available with smaller batteries ranging from 150 to 600 kWh. However, the manufacturer does not mention which version it will deliver and only states the maximum range.

As mentioned above, the Turkish manufacturer will deliver 22 units of its 12-metre e-ATA to the city of Constanța this year. According to Karsan, it then has buses in 49 different locations in Romania and will have 525 vehicles on the road there, including all of the recently won tenders in Buzau, Craiova, and Sibiu, for example.

“Romania has special importance for us as one of the most important milestones of our growth in the field of electric public transportation and at the same time as the country where the first electric e-JEST is exported,” said Karsan CEO Okan Baş . “As of today, this figure will increase rapidly in a short time in Romania, where we serve with our 285 vehicles, almost doubling.” He then added: “Our goal is to have the largest electric public transport fleet in Romania by 2025 and we continue to make great strides on this path.”

karsan.com (Italy, PDF), karsan.com (Romania; PDF)