Deployment of fully electric regular-sized urban buses in local public transport

​Full electrification of local bus transportation, including charging, maintenance, and possibly assembly and production capacity.

The municipality of Pécs purchased ten electric buses for Tüke Busz Ltd., the city’s public transport company. The relevant contract was signed with the successful tenderer, BYD, in August 2019 by Zsolt Páva, the mayor of Pécs at the time. The purchase is financed entirely by the European Union, the city receives HUF 1.7 billion for the purchase of buses and the depot with recharging and cleaning facilities.

BYD is a Chinese company established 25 years ago, today it is the world’s largest producer of electric buses. The vehicles are assembled at the company’s Komárom plant. Purchased at a price of HUF 145 million each, the air-conditioned buses with a capacity of up to 64 passengers can cover 300 kilometres on a single charge. Thus, the Pécs buses running between 150 and 250 kilometres a day will be able to go a whole day without recharging. The manufacturer offered a 6-year warranty on the battery and 8 to 12 years on the other main components. These buses, which don’t pollute the city’s air with exhaust gases, can be operated at a significantly lower cost than the vehicles of the current diesel fleet.

At the moment, this is the largest urban electric bus fleet in Hungary, as the Budapest pilot project practically failed due to the poor quality of the vehicles.

The city plans to further apply for around HUF 4.8 billion to purchase a total of 38 additional buses. This would make over 20% of the fleet electric.

At the opening CoR plenary, EC Vice-President Timmermans mentioned a major project in which European cities would order large amounts of electric buses, predominantly manufactured in Europe, through joint public procurement.

We are eagerly looking forward to this because the city of Pécs, besides purchasing and operating, would also be interested in manufacturing or assembling electric buses.