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140 electric buses arrive in Athens, but not their chargers

The first 140 electric buses from Chinese company Yutong may have arrived in Athens on Sunday, however, there is a major issue: their chargers are missing.

The State Audit Council considers a procurement contract concerning bus chargers to contain irregularities, so for the time being the four charging stations of OSY (Road Transport Organization) will not be operative. Instead, the buses will be charged at the trolley bus stations at Rouf and Attikis Square, starting with 38 buses on a trial period.

The electric buses arrived at the port of Piraeus and are scheduled to be in circulation on the roads in a month or so.

Two days earlier, 110 buses of the same manufacturer arrived with another ship at the port of Thessaloniki.

This is part of the large supply of 550 (out of 770 initially) buses for Athens and Thessaloniki through the tender that is underway since 2021.

According to the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras, the buses are scheduled to hit the streets around end of April or May..

An important pending matter is the installation of the charging equipment in the depots where they will be parked. Until then, they will be charged by 7 mobile chargers which are part of the supply of the buses, reported athenstransport.com.

In Athens, the temporary contractor of the corresponding project for the installation of chargers in 4 trolley bus stations has been announced (with an offered price of 6,902,586.80 euros plus VAT), but the control of the contract by the Audit Council is pending.

The State Audit Council considers a procurement contract concerning bus chargers to contain irregularities, so for the time being the four charging stations of OSY (Road Transport Organization) will not be operative. Instead, the buses will be charged at the trolley bus stations at Rouf and Attikis Square, starting with 38 buses on a trial period.

Until all the chargers are installed, it is expected that 38 of the 140 electric buses  will be put into circulation, immediately after the necessary tests have been carried out and the vehicles have been licensed.

A few days ago, the tests of the model bus began at the OSY facilities and a test route was carried out inside the depot.

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4 comments

  1. I read somewhere that the chargers will be released once it is confirmed that Chinese music will be played on buses 45% of the time……..

  2. Electric buses from China, a corrupt dictatorship. Disgraceful. The politicians and civil servants who bought the buses should be fired for not ensuring that chargers came with them.
    False economy, batteries will need to be replaced within about 7 years at a cost in excess of €100,000.
    Are these buses fire proof? It would be a major disaster in the event of a fire.
    Otherwise, best of luck.

  3. “Until then, they will be charged by 7 mobile chargers…”

    I note they don’t say how these “mobile chargers” work? Since they are mobile I presume that they are diesel driven generators. Great way to get down diesel emissions in Athens?

    Good luck to the people who live near where the chargers operate. With diesel buses at least their emissions are spread evenly throughout the city. Now slightly more diesel emissions will be dumped wherever the generators are stationed.

  4. I keep reading stories about EV’s (cars and buses) “going rogue” (specifically in the UK) – I can only pray that when/if these buses come into operation, they only metaphorically “hit the streets around end of April or May”.