Series production of the Lion’s City E range began at Starachowice, Poland in October 2020.

At stand 629 in hall 6, the company is set to debut its new roof-mounted AC138 EVO air conditioning system which is set to go into series production in Q1 2025.

The funding is being allocated to the government’s Zero Emission Buses Regional Area (ZEBRA, now ZEBRA 2) Scheme, initially launched in 2021 to allow local transport authorities to bid for funding for zero-emission buses and supporting infrastructure.

MCV will produce the buses under licence at its facility in Egypt, employing chassis supplied from Volvo’s factories in Sweden.

The funding is to come from the Department for Transport (DfT), National Highways, HS2 Ltd, Network Rail and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

130 units of the ‘Urbino 12 hydrogen’ line will be delivered over the next few years, the vast majority of which (127) will be delivered to the Metropolitan City of Bologna.

Following the framework sale of the e-Jest electric shuttle bus in the right-hand drive market in Japan earlier this year - Karsan is now exploring entry into the UK market with first deliveries planned for 2024.

Speaking with Deniz Cetin, Chief Commercial Officer at Karsan Automotive & Board Member at Group Companies at Cenex (2023), T&BB was informed that Karsan has bid on autonomous electric bus contracts (tenders) in Spain, Israel, Qatar and Canada. Deniz confirmed that Karsan recently delivered an autonomous bus to Istanbul which comes off the back of two successful autonomous bus trials in Norway and the USA.

The Ferndale facility has the capacity to produce up to 850 ‘Vicinity Classic’ and ‘Vicinity Lightning’ (i.e., ICE and EV) buses and 6,250 ‘VMC 1200’ battery electric trucks per year.

The 69-seater buses also feature 30 USB charging ports, built-in WIFI and air conditioning along with a total capacity of 97 passengers.

The company will provide European customers with its electric bus charging solutions. Dietrich Müller, previously Head of E-Systems at Daimler Buses has been appointed Managing Director of Daimler Buses Solutions.

The eCitaro fuel cell utilises a battery-electric drive system with high-performance NMC3 batteries while the fuel cell acts as a hydrogen generator to extend the range. With a range of 350km on a single charge, the articulated version offers space for 128 passengers.