The TransMilenio system in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, claims to have an electric bus fleet of over 1,600 vehicles, the second largest in South America behind Santiago in Chile.

T&BB decided to delve into the reasons for this sales success story by interviewing the top management of Stuart Beeton, Head of Sales & Marketing and Peter Murphy, Managing Director of Isuzu Truck UK.

Higer imports buses to South America via a JV in Brazil.

Earlier this month at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC in Birmingham, T&BB spoke to Greg Ethridge, the Chief Financial Officer of American EV manufacturer, Canoo Inc who confirmed that the company had indeed purchased manufacturing assets (robotics and machinery equipment) from now defunct, Arrival Ltd. The manufacturing assets are set to be shipped by sea to the Canoo manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City, in the U.S.A.

February saw PepsiCo take delivery of its first electric heavy-duty truck in Brazil; a semi-heavy rigid (15t ≤ gvw up to 40 tons) P25 6x2 Scania truck, produced in Sweden, which is to be used for internal logistics goods distribution operations between PepsiCo’s four factories* in the state of São Paulo.

According to the latest agreement, the companies plan to co-develop electric heavy-duty trucks (both battery-electric and fuel-cell electric) for the European market.

The acquisition is part of a EUR54m investment by the National Transport Authority which will fund the replacement of Limerick’s bus fleet with battery-powered vehicles.

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.

Due to the next-generation battery technology supplied by Polish battery company Impact Clean Power Technology, ADL has increased its “warrantable energy throughput” of its next-gen electric buses (Enviro400EV and Enviro100EV).

The first vehicle is being tested over 2,500 kilometres on the streets of Plzeň, after which it will be delivered to the customer later this year.

The truck is travelling over 10,000 kilometres between April and July, making 60 stops in 7 European countries.

The startup manufacturer says that one of the key changes to the 2024 model ‘Xos SV’ is the addition of an anti-lock braking system with hill hold to improve its drivability.