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.

These buses, equipped with the 17-210 chassis and FPT N60 CNG engines, were produced at Iveco's plant in Córdoba, with bodies supplied by Italbus.

Claudio Passerini succeeds Domenico Nucera, who transitioned to the newly created role of Chief Quality & Operations Officer at Iveco Group.

This is the largest tender Iveco  Bus has won in the German market to date. Deliveries will start in 2025 and continue through to 2030.

Series production is set for Q1 2025 at its Vysoke Myto plant in the Czech Republic. Available in two main versions (a 12 and a 13-metre variant),  these buses are designed for both urban and intercity missions.

The orders comprise 31, GX 337 H2 LINIUM BRT hydrogen fuel cell buses and 20, GX 437 ELEC LINIUM BRT battery electric buses.

The company is investing EUR 600 million to transform the facility into a hub for manufacturing electric and hydrogen-powered buses, including the Heuliez GX Elec, Iveco E-Way and the new E-Way-H2 hydrogen model.

In collaboration with Hyundai Motor Company, the company launched the E-WAY H2, a 12-metre hydrogen fuel cell electric city bus, which first debuted at Busworld Europe in 2023.

The order is made up of 550 Crossway (10 and 12 metre) and 350 Crossway LE buses, set to be delivered by the end of 2028. ÖBB Postbus already has 1300 Crossway buses in its fleet.

In a market like Turkey, it is crucial that domestic and international attendees are able to communicate with one another. One the one hand, Turkey is a giant market with growing infrastructure and, therefore, growing demand for goods and passenger transportation. On the other hand, it has long been a prime location for offshore manufacturing, especially for the European automotive industry. At a show like Busworld Turkey, then, companies who are interested in growing their share of the domestic market and companies who are interested in exporting products from Turkey are represented in equal proportions.

The first MoU refers to the project with Politecnico di Milano University aiming at implementing a new on-demand transport solution for students and staff. The second project is very similar, just with hospital staff at the Humanitas University Hospital in Milan.

Under the themes of “energy transition and sustainable mobility”, the European public transport industry met to demonstrate its new sustainable products/technologies as the sector looks to rapidly decarbonise to meet climate pledges outlined in the European Green Deal.