Ebusco (Euronext: EBUS), a pioneer and frontrunner in the development of electric buses and charging systems, has signed a new contract with Qbuzz for the delivery of up to 63 buses. The order involves 45 Ebusco 3.0 12-meter buses and 18 Ebusco 3.0 18-meter buses, four of which are still under option. The buses will hit the road in the provinces Groningen and Drenthe in 2024.
Qbuzz will deploy the buses on behalf of OV-bureau Groningen-Drenthe in the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe. The 12-meter buses will mainly be used for regional transport, while the 18-meter buses will operate under the Q-link flag on lines 5 and 6 nearby the city of Groningen. Both variants of the Ebusco 3.0 for Qbuzz will be equipped with an extra-large battery pack (>500kWh), which is unique for the 12-meter variant. Combined with the bus’s lightweight design, this means the operator can rely on extremely low energy consumption and an extra-long range needed for successful regional and BRT transport.
Qbuzz is one of the five largest regional transport operators in the Netherlands. With its network of buses, trams and trains, the operator moves around 85 million passengers from A to B every year. Besides the Groningen-Drenthe region, the operator is also responsible for public transport in the Utrecht and Drechtsteden-Molenlanden-Gorinchem regions. In Groningen-Drenthe, the operator has a fleet of around 400 buses, which will now partially be replaced by up to 63 Ebusco 3.0 buses.
Ebusco has been working with Qbuzz for several years now and has already provided the operator with circa 130 electric buses. Under the Qbuzz umbrella, the Ebusco 2.2 buses are already operating in the cities of Utrecht, Groningen and Dordrecht, amongst others. In the Groningen-Drenthe region, the operator already has 60 Ebusco buses in operation, covering around 100,000 km per bus annually. As a result, with the Ebusco 2.2 fleet in Groningen-Drenthe Qbuzz has already achieved savings of roughly 5,500,000 kg CO2 and 9,500,000 kg nitrogen per year. With the Ebusco 3.0, Qbuzz will reduce its carbon footprint even further.
Steven van der Burg, Sales Director at Ebusco, explains: “We are extremely proud that Qbuzz has once again chosen Ebusco. In recent years, we have already delivered more than 100 electric buses to Qbuzz. The fact that Qbuzz selected us again after the success of the Ebusco 2.2, is proof that with the Ebusco 3.0 we have taken the right path to take emission-free public transport to an even higher level. We thus look forward to continuing our cooperation with Qbuzz to continue our road to zero emission.”
Dirk Huzeling, Creative Bid Manager at Qbuzz, responds: “Over the past few years, we have already experienced the success of the Ebusco buses on the road. With the Ebusco 2.2 buses we already drive between 350 and 375 electric kilometers per day, while recharging at our depots from time to time. We are very pleased to now also add the Ebusco 3.0 to our fleet and are confident that this lightweight bus will deliver an even better range in combination with the large battery pack. This will allow us to increase the sustainability of public transport in the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen to a greater extent.”