Yutong electric buses ready for action in Bergen
The first batch of 29 Yutong electric buses arrived in Bergen last month as part of a contract awarded by Bergen’s Skyss public transport authority for Keolis to operate and maintain 138 fossil-free buses, including 102 all-electric vehicles. The electric buses were shipped from Shanghai in three batches.
Featuring 88 12m-long buses and 14 15m buses, the vehicles should offer seven to 10 hours of operation depending on operating conditions. The shift from diesel to electric vehicles will reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 85 per cent over the duration of the bus contract. Each diesel bus replaced with an all-electric alternative will save about 50 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The buses will be transferred to the Mannsverk depot, scheduled to open in early November 2020, where work is underway to install the recharging infrastructure, and will go into operation in December.
Keolis’ 9.5-year contract for the operation and maintenance of 138 fossil-fuel-free buses also includes 10 trolley buses made by Solaris and 26 Volvo HVO buses.
Keolis has been operating in Norway since 2010. With the start of the bus contract on 1 December, Keolis expands its footprint in Norway and its staff will grow to 500 employees.