Daimler Buses will also produce its eCitaro electric bus in France in the first quarter of 2024. The German manufacturer will invest around 50 million euros in the French location of Ligny-en-Barrois by 2030 for this purpose.
Since Daimler is planning to produce electric buses alongside diesel buses, the German bus maker has acquired three hectares of land to expand the plant. An official announcement by the manufacturer on electric bus production in France is still pending.
Media reports state that 250 additional jobs are planned with the conversion and modernisation of the new site. The bus news site revealed that both the 12-metre and the 18-metre versions of the eCitaro are to be built in Ligny-en-Barrois.
At the beginning of March, Daimler Buses announced that it would turn its German plant in Mannheim into a centre of excellence for e-city buses. From 2024 onwards, this will focus entirely on producing electrically powered city buses and become more involved in component production. From the second half of the decade, the second German plant in Neu-Ulm will also produce electrically powered intercity buses and, from the end of the decade, coaches with battery-electric and fuel cell drive systems.
At the Global Public Transport Summit (GPTS) from 4 to 7 June 2023 in Barcelona, Daimler Buses will present the eCitaro with a fuel cell as a range extender, which will be available as an articulated bus shortly afterwards.
sustainable-bus.com
