SINGAPORE — Sixty electric buses from three suppliers will hit the road in 2020, providing commuters with quieter and smoother rides, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Wednesday (Oct 24).
The buses, worth S$50 million, will arrive in Singapore from next year and the routes they will ply will be announced at a later date.
The LTA said it awarded the tender to multiple suppliers in order to test the different charging technologies available in the market.
The three suppliers of the electric buses are:
- BYD (Singapore), which will supply 20 single-deck electric buses in a contract worth S$17 million. BYD is a Shenzhen-based automaker
- ST Engineering Land Systems, which will provide 20 single-deck electric buses for a sum of about S$15 million
- Yutong-NARI Consortium, a Chinese consortium, which will supply 10 single-deck and 10 double-deck electric buses in a contract worth about S$18 million.
The buses, which will be equipped with systems that provide commuters with audio and visual information about their journey, are part of the LTA’s efforts to build a more environmentally friendly public bus fleet.
Last year, the LTA bought 50 diesel hybrid buses from Volvo East Asia for S$30 million and said the buses would be put in service by the second half of this year.
Former Second Minister for Transport Ng Chee Meng said in March last year that an issue with pure-electric technology is that it is not fully proven yet for tropical climates, due in part to the vehicles consuming a lot of energy for air-conditioning.
The 60 electric buses will help the LTA to better understand the operational and technical challenges that come with the wider deployment of such buses under local tropical weather and traffic conditions, it said.
In evaluating the bids, the LTA said it considered factors such as the track records of the firms, their technical capabilities, adherence to requirements and compliance with local regulations.
