De Lijn joins forces with Spanish group Irizar for e-buses

De Lijn concluded a framework agreement with the Spanish supplier Irizar for 100 e-buses. This concerns an agreement of potentially 117 million euros.

With the deal, De Lijn adds a new supplier to the list of companies that already supply or supplied electric buses to the Flemish transport company. These include the defunct Van Hool, the Dutch VDL and BYD from China. The sensational order at BYD at the end of last year fell shortly before the demise of Van Hool.

De Lijn reported in a press release on Monday that Spanish supplier Irizar beat two other candidates. There were initially eight selected candidate tenderers, three of whom submitted a tender. De Lijn does not want to say who the two losers were. The company points out that Irizar already has e-buses operating in several Spanish cities such as Barcelona, ​​but also in France and Switzerland.

In our country, the Walloon counterpart of De Lijn, TEC, joined forces with the Spaniards in 2021, but that was not for electric buses. To be clear: De Lijn has not yet placed an order with Irizar. This concerns a framework agreement that makes it possible to have up to 100 vehicles made by the Spanish group. If they are all ordered, it will amount to an order worth 117 million euros, says De Lijn spokesman Frederik Wittock.

This corresponds to an average of 1.17 million euros per e-bus. That hefty price tag is due to the extras such as USB charging points for mobile phones, mobile phone holders, reading lamps, an electrically operated ramp for less mobile travelers, information screens with indication of the stops and seats with a higher backrest. The buses are also larger and offer more space. BYD’s e-buses cost De Lijn almost 500,000 euros each.

Due to their larger size and extra comfort, Irizar buses are suitable for high-quality public transport (HOV). ‘These are connections that bring travelers to their destination smoothly and faster over often greater distances, such as the Limburg axis between Hasselt and Maasmechelen. In this way, they are a good solution to deal with the underdevelopment of the rail network in Limburg,” says Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open VLD).

Later there will be new buses on the HOV lines from Hasselt to Maastricht and to North Limburg. Wittock says that the possibility of using HOV buses is also being explored in Flemish Brabant and West Flanders. De Lijn previously concluded a framework agreement with VDL for e-buses for HOV. This involved a maximum of 75 pieces, of which 17 have already been ordered.