100 Yutong electric buses delivered in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan

100 Yutong electric buses are headed to Kazakhstan, where the capital city Nur-Sultan (formerly known, till March 2019, with the denomination of Astana) announced it will upgrade the bus fleet purchasing zero emission vehicles.

The vehicles are jointly developed by the Chinese manufacturer and Kazakh manufacturer and distributor Saryarka AvtoProm.

Deliveries of Yutong buses in Kazakhstan took place in the early 2020 and on 16th April Yutong stated that all the 100 e-buses reached their destination.

Yutong, a 2019 with 58,000 buses sold

Yutong released its 2019 annual report on March 30 2020. The results? 58,688 buses sold and a market share of 37.1 % on the Chinese market, that saw a decrease of 11 % in 2019. On March 25, as many as 100 Yutong full electric buses were officially handed over to Shunde Automobile Transport Group, in the Chinese province of Guangdong (picture below).

Among the latest deliveries of Yutong electric buses, we could mention the supply of 100 ebuses to Santiago de Chile and the one to the Danish municipality of Roskilde.

Yutong buses for Nur-Sultan

The 100 Yutong electric buses headed to Nur-Sultan (contract was announced in autumn 2019) are 12 meter model, with 30 seats each. Range, according to the manufacturer, can reach 350 km. The vehicles will be equipped with electronic fare payment systems, video surveillance, intelligent battery management systems, USB ports.

The new buses will be purchased through DBK Leasing as part of the state programme to upgrade the fleet with domestically produced equipment.

Yutong Bus targeting European market

Anyhow, besides the well established business activities in Asia and a growing presence in Latin America, Yutong is targeting the European electric bus market, that in 2019 saw strong increase in registration. And Yutong is the protagonist of the largest battery-electric bus order signed in Norway so far, with 88 E12 models to be delivered to Keolis Norge.

Pursuing the goal of increasing its penetration in the European markets, Yutong launched at Busworld in Brussels, in October 2019, the Yutong U12, developed for this continent. 94 passengers can find a place on board on the 12 meter bus (the articulated electric bus will soon be launched). The bus is equipped with as many as 422 kWh battery. Axles are provided by ZF. With regards to of active safety systems, Yutong announced it has heavily invested in developing the “BusEYE Pro driving assistant system“.

«In each European market we have dealers who represent us. One of the targets I have set myself is to improve our presence in Europe. And we have already seen the first results… » the Managing Director for the European and North American markets and responsible for the strategic development of Yutong for markets outside China Franco Miniero tolds Sustainable Bus.

Yutong bus prevailed on Heuliez, MAN and Mercedes

Back to the delivery in Kazakhstan, according to Asian Times, several models have been tested in the hard winter of Nur-Sultan, at a temperature of minus 38 degrees Celsius. Thus, a cost analysis was carried on. «The minimum price for a Heuliez Bus GX 337 Electric, a French 12-metre electric bus, is $503,000. German MAN Lion’s City E bus prices start at $635,000. German Mercedes eCitaro buses begin at $558,000 – reports Asian Times -. The domestic manufacturer and distributor SaryarkaAvtoProm met all the necessary requirements with its Yutong ZK6128BEVG electric bus costing 146.7 million tenge (US$378,000)».