Italian E-Bus Boom: ATM Orders 110 Electric Buses from Karsan

The Turkish manufacturer Karsan has been selected as the winner of a bid by Milan’s public transit company ATM for the supply of 110 electric buses. The 110 Karsan e-ATA 12 buses are scheduled to be put into service gradually starting from the end of 2027.

Solaris electric buses are already in operation in Milan. The first units from Karsan will join them soon.

This spring, ATM issued a tender worth over 100 million euros for the delivery and subsequent maintenance of 110 electric buses. The contract has now been awarded: manufacturer Karsan received the order to produce the buses and a ten-year maintenance contract. As specified in the tender, the order includes 80 twelve-meter-long city buses that are low-floor vehicles with three doors. There are also 30 units of the same twelve-meter length, which are low-floor intercity buses but will have only two doors. The former go directly to ATM, while the additional 30 go to its subsidiary NET.

According to the Sustainable Bus portal, the order is being processed through Italy’s Karsan dealer Kmobility, with the total contract value expected to be around 76 million euros. This amount includes not only vehicle delivery and maintenance but also future battery replacements. Additionally, while the 80 electric vehicles are intended for use in Milan by ATM, the 30 units for NET are likely to be stationed in Monza. The first batch of deliveries, per Sustainable Bus, will consist of 34 vehicles: 22 for Milan and 12 for Monza.

As early as the end of 2022, ATM issued a tender for the procurement of 340 electric buses. In 2023, Iveco Bus and Solaris were announced as the winners of this bidding process. To date, around 600 electric buses have reportedly been acquired. It is also confirmed that ATM remains committed to its goal of converting the entire bus fleet to electric power by 2030, with over 1,200 electric buses targeted. To operate such a large fleet of electric buses, the depots in San Donato, Sarca, Giambellino, and Palmanova are being upgraded to electric operation simultaneously. Additionally, the program includes the construction of new depots designed specifically for housing electric buses.

Italy is generally emerging as the leading market for electric buses in Europe. Across all propulsion types, Italy’s bus market is already the largest in the EU. Only the non-EU country of the UK still has higher registration numbers. However, in terms of externally chargeable buses, Italians have already overtaken the Brits this year.