Playing a pioneering role in the electric and autonomous transformation of public transportation in Europe and the world, Karsan continues to present its new technology and production power to consumers at the industry’s leading fairs and organizations. Karsan, which develops Europe’s most preferred vehicles with its innovation power and impeccable service approach in public transportation, took part in Busworld 2024, the largest bus fair in the sector, with its wide product range and solutions. At the exhibition, which was held in Istanbul, Karsan made a show with its Autonomous e-ATAK, an environmentally friendly model equipped with the technology of the future, e-ATA HYDROGEN, which represents the most efficient form of hydrogen technology in public transportation, and the new right-hand drive e-JEST.
“Karsan Leading the Electric Conversion in Türkiye“
Karsan attracted great interest by bringing together all the innovations in the sector with its vehicles featuring hydrogen, electric and autonomous technologies at Busworld. Offering the comfort of environmentally friendly and sustainable transportation to the people of the world with more than 1100 vehicles, Karsan continues to play a pioneering role not only in the international arena but also in its home country. Having taken action for the electric transformation in public transportation in Türkiye after Europe, Karsan reinforces its leadership in this field with the delivery of 66 electric vehicles. Karsan recently delivered 60 e-JEST vehicles to Aselsan and is now operating two Autonomous e-ATAK vehicles at Istanbul Technical University and the Presidential Complex. Karsan continues to make significant contributions to regional transportation with its 8-meter e-ATAK and 12-meter e-ATA models, the first electric public transportation vehicles in Antalya and Bursa. Stating that the fair was very productive for Karsan, Muzaffer Arpacıoğlu, Deputy General Manager of Karsan, said that they act with a “start-up” spirit with 60 years of automotive experience and a work team of 2,600 people. Muzaffer Arpacıoğlu emphasized that as a company, they have taken great steps towards becoming a pioneer and leader in the future of urban transportation. “We continue to take important steps within the scope of our vision of being ‘One Step Ahead in the Future of Mobility’ and Karsan Electric e-VOLUTION journey. Just 3 years after launching our first electric model, we became the first brand to offer the full e-range in all sizes from 6 meters to 18 meters. As of today, in 23 countries more than 1100 Karsan electric buses provide environmentally friendly and high comfort services to the people. We have already reached an experience of more than 160 million kilometers, which guides us in developing both our existing vehicles and new ones.”
“We carry passengers even at minus 25 degrees“
Pointing out that Karsan has become a brand recognized for its success in Europe, Muzaffer Arpacıoğlu continued as follows: “We entered the European market in 2019 and have been growing continuously for the past five years. Last year, we ranked 6th in the European electric bus market. e-JEST, the pioneer of its class, has been the leader of the electric minibus market in Europe for the last 4 consecutive years with a market share of 29 percent. Likewise, our 8-meter e-ATAK model, which has been the leader of the electric midibus segment in Europe for the last 4 years, has a 24 percent share. On the other hand, our Autonomous e-ATAK model continues to achieve firsts. While our vehicle became the first driverless vehicle to pass through a tunnel in Europe, it has carried 27 thousand passengers so far. We have driven more than 75 thousand kilometers in autonomous vehicles and had the opportunity to experience this even in harsh weather conditions such as -25 degrees Celsius. To date, we have commissioned 8 different Autonomous e-ATAK projects in different cities including the USA, Romania, France, Norway, Finland and Türkiye. Our largest model, the 18-meter e-ATA, is the segment leader in Italy and Romania. To date, we have received 184 e-ATA orders from Europe, 106 of which have already been delivered. We will have delivered the remaining 78 vehicles by the end of the year.”
“Karsan is shaping the Mobility of the Future“
Muzaffer Arpacıoğlu, Deputy General Manager of Karsan, stated that Karsan not only produces vehicles, but also develops innovative mobility solutions using the mobility technologies of the future. “We renew, improve and develop our technologies every day to build the mobility of the future. Among our innovations in this direction, ‘Platooning’ and ‘Remote Driving’ are the features we have implemented in our Autonomous e-ATAK vehicle in cooperation with ADASTEC.” Emphasizing the advantages of Platooning technology, Arpacıoğlu said, “Platooning technology allows 2, 3 or more 8-meter Autonomous e-ATAK vehicles to operate as if they were a single bus with imaginary bellows, 16 meters or 24 meters long, during peak hours. Instead of buying a bus with a large articulated bellows, operators can run 2 or 3 Autonomous e-ATAK vehicles in synchronized operation with this feature and have the same passenger capacity or even more. In this way, it can be used back-to-back during peak hours, while energy consumption can be saved by intermittent use during less crowded hours. Remote Driving technology allows the vehicle to be intervened instantly in unexpected situations, thus eliminating the cost of a safety driver.”
“More efficient vehicles with Karsan’s heat pump technology“
Speaking about the new technologies developed to increase efficiency in electric vehicles, Arpacıoğlu said, “We have developed the heat pump technology to operate at -25 degrees Celsius. In this way, we offer a longer range by reducing energy consumption by 80% in our e-ATA series. In addition, we will lighten our 12-meter e-ATA vehicle by 900 kilograms in 2025 with efforts to reduce the weight of our vehicles. With these improvements, our e-ATA model will offer the best energy consumption and passenger capacity in its class.”
“New target for right-hand drive e-JEST is the UK“
Muzaffer Arpacıoğlu, Deputy General Manager of Karsan, said that Karsan is rapidly progressing towards becoming a preferred brand in a wide geography from North America to Japan, just as it is in Europe. “We have made significant progress in the North American market in a short period of time. We have now delivered 153 e-JEST vehicles to North America for service in Canada and the U.S. In addition, at the end of last year, we introduced the first right-hand drive e-JEST to the Japanese market and became the first European electric bus brand in Japan. Japan was our first market to which we exported right-hand drive models. With our last vehicle, the 12-meter e-ATAK HYDROGEN, we have achieved another first in Europe. Our vehicle, which has the best features of its class with a range of more than 500 kilometers and a capacity of 95 passengers, offers a remarkable performance with a filling speed of only 7 minutes.”
“We are where you are“
Muzaffer Arpacıoğlu stated that Karsan is rapidly progressing towards becoming a global brand in the field of electric mobility and added: “Our mission is to offer our customers innovative products during sales and the best experience after sales. For this reason, we stand by our customers whenever they need us with the slogan ‘Wherever you are, we are there’. With our technical trainings, online help desk, 24/7 international call center, dedicated after-sales teams and remote diagnostics system, we support and offer solutions whenever our customers need them. We have accelerated shipments with our spare parts warehouses in Germany, Bursa and most recently in Italy. Our goal is to become the global mobility leader in public transportation. This year, we aim to maintain our leading position in our target markets by continuing our growth. In addition, after the Japanese market, we have put other right-hand drive countries on our agenda. In this context, we plan to introduce the right-hand drive e-JEST to the UK market at the end of this year.”