Hess to deliver 248 electric busses to Geneva and Lyon

Carrosserie Hess AG has won an international call for tender to deliver a fleet of electric busses to both Lyon and Geneva. According to a press release, a total of 127 electric bendy busses will be delivered to the French city over the next four years, while Geneva is set to accept delivery of 121 electric bendy busses in total, some of which are double articulated. The supply contract also includes the development of charging infrastructure by 2030 and options for up to 241 additional vehicles.

In Lyon, the modern trolleybus fleet is to operate on routes previously used by diesel buses. A total of 34 bendy busses from Hess have been in use in Lyon since February 2021 on the C13 route, which transports more than 27,000 passengers per day. The new Hess bendy busses will exclusively serve this route from spring 2024 onwards. These can cover up to “40 percent of the route without overhead lines in battery mode”.

In Geneva, the fleets operated by the local transport authority Transports Publics Genevois will rely on a turnkey system of vehicles and charging infrastructure. The new e-buses from Hess are scheduled to go into operation from 2025 and will be charged in a matter of seconds thanks to rapid charging stations located at the respective ends of the line and other selected stops in between.

For Hess, the positive order situation for its e-bus systems demands an expansion of its production facilities in Bellach in the canton of Solothurn and at the new plant in Portugal. At the headquarters in Bellach, the company is looking to hire 40 additional specialists in the fields of diagnostics, mechanics, automation and software development. Staff numbers across the group will increase to 800 employees. In addition, structural measures to expand and optimize production processes are in the pipeline for the next few months. ce/heg