Romania's Govt. wants to buy 131 electric buses for EUR 77 mln

Romania’s Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MDRAP) has launched a tender for the purchase of 131 electric buses for seven cities in Romania: Iasi, Sibiu, Sighetu Marmatiei, Slatina, Suceava, Tirgu Mures, and Pitesti.

The ministry estimates a budget of RON 363 million (EUR 77 mln), excluding VAT, for the whole lot, Economica.net reported. Out of the 131 buses, the most significant part (40) will go to Pitesti.

Bucharest launched a similar tender for the purchase of 110 electric buses in March, and only two bidders showed up by the deadline that expired this week. One offer came from the association Bozankaya Otomotiv Makina Imalat Ithalat ve Ihracat (Turkey) and SILEO GmbH (Germany) and the other from New Kopel Car Import (a Romanian importer for Chinese producer BYD). Bucharest earmarked RON 220 mln not including VAT, meaning RON 262 mln (EUR 55 mln) VAT included.

Both Bucharest municipality and MDRAP are also purchasing the charging stations as well (a slow charging station for each bus plus, in some cases, several fast charging stations per city), as part of the contracts. The length of the buses to be used in all cities is 12 meters.

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