What a difference a year can make! A year ago, Truck & Bus Builder attended the “E-Bus Test” in the German city of Bonn, organised yearly by the German magazine Omnibus Spiegel. It is a fantastic opportunity for European journalists to ride on and test drive the latest electric buses, some of which have yet to launch in the market. In this regard, the 2025 edition of the e-bus test was no different. However, the outlook for the electric bus market in Europe is less certain now than it was even just twelve months ago. A representative of Stadtwerke Bonn, the operator of Bonn’s urban transport system which hosted the e-bus test at its depot, told attendees at the event that it is no longer looking for incentives to purchase electric buses from the European Union. Those dried up a while ago, and the city of Dortmund – to give just one example – has gone back to purchasing diesel buses. There is not a great deal of hope either that the new government in Germany will announce further support for electric buses and charging infrastructure.

The double articulated lighTram Tosa trolleybus measures 24.7m long and has a capacity for up to 220 passengers. The first buses will be delivered in 2027 with the orders set to be completed by 2032.

These buses are part of the Exqui.City 24 series, which are intended for use on the T Zen 4 and T Zen 5 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines in the Paris metropolitan area.

The company received an order for 16 units of its lighTram Tosa double-articulating trolleybus from the Italian city of Vicenza thanks to EUR 19 million in state funding to local transport company SVT, who plan to deploy the fleet on the LAM Rossa line in 2027.

Carrosserie HESS AG, based in Bellach, Switzerland, has received an order for 25 units of its lighTram 25 double-articulating trolleybus from the French city of Nancy. The trolleybuses are already in operation in multiple Swiss cities, such as Bern, Zurich, Lausanne, Lucerne, and St. Gallen.