Gtt, Cavourese (Autoguidovie) and Enel X, first bus as a service project kicks off

In the hills, the bus…is electric! Let us explain: from Saturday, April 15, those traveling in the hills will be able to choose to move in a green and sustainable way thanks to new electric vehicles that will serve the “hill lines” of Gruppo Torino Trasporti. This is an important achievement, the result of Gtt’s strategic decision to put this part of the service out to tender and the innovative offer made by Cavourese.

Cavourese, a historical reality of Piedmontese transport (Autoguidovie Group), has in fact won the 5-year sub-contracting tender for the 70,73,78, 79/, 53 and 54b lines with a “full electric” project in collaboration with Enel X.

Cavourese and Gtt go to the hills…in electric

Under the new contract, these hill lines, along with Chieri’s urban lines 1 and 2 (the latter already subcontracted by Gtt to Cavourese) and VE2, will be served with 14 electric buses. The new e-buses, in the two versions of 10.8 meters and 8.5 meters, are small in size specially designed to allow them to run on narrow hill roads.

Here is the project timeline in detail. Starting April 15, the new e-buses will be deployed on lines 70, 73, 78 and 89/, and from May 2, electrification will affect Chieri lines 1 and 2. Lines 53 and 54b, which continue to be operated by Gtt for the time being, will go electric in a second phase of the project.

Comments from key players: Gtt, Cavourese and Enel X

“We are satisfied with this result, which is the result of an overall corporate vision that combines efficiency and sustainability,” comments Serena Lancione, Ceo of Gtt. “Due to its characteristics, the hill service requires special management and the use of dedicated vehicles: the strategic choice of putting the service out to tender, enhancing an ecological offer that is totally electric-powered, has proved successful. We are confident that we will finally be able to guarantee the hillside residents a quality service.”

“Innovation, technology, environmental sustainability, enhancement of the territory, efficiency in service, and attention to customers and their needs represent the guiding principles of the business strategy of Cavourese and the Autoguidovie group,” says Giovanni Tresoldi, Ceo of Cavourese” Through the awarding of this important tender, the first “bus as a service” project in Italy, which is “materialized” by the introduction of a fleet of electric buses for travel in the Piedmontese capital, we contribute to making the Turin mobility system increasingly sustainable. The energy transition process to achieve zero-impact public transportation takes a big leap forward today. And in this sense Cavourese, in the context of private companies in the sector, is certainly playing a pioneering role on such important issues that, like green and the reduction of pollutants, condition the present but above all decide the future.”

“For a long time the residents of the hill have been signaling the need for better service,” says City of Turin Councillor for Ecological and Digital Transition, Innovation, Environment, Mobility and Transport Chiara Foglietta “Today we have the opportunity to combine quality of service with innovation and important interventions in terms of ecological transition. The City of Turin is facing important challenges within the European NetZero Cities Mission to achieve climate neutrality. This is also an important piece in the perspective of this broad environmental strategy.”

“Electrifying local public transport is an opportunity to redesign the mobility of our cities in a smarter and more sustainable logic,” concludes Augusto Raggi, Head of Enel X Italy. “With the ‘bus as a service’ model, the Company offers partners and administrations a solution that includes the full range of innovative services to electrify the local transport fleet. We start from this project with Cavourese, one of the most dynamic companies in the tpl sector, which thanks to our help will provide citizens with new electric buses that guarantee excellent performance, are efficient and respect the environment.”

The Bus as a Service Project

BaaS, or “Bus as a service,” is the innovative solution developed by Enel X for the electrification of urban public transport that is based on offering energy per kilometer traveled: customers purchase the electric kilometers needed to cover routes, thus ensuring efficient and sustainable service delivery. The model also provides for vehicle equipment and maintenance, charging stations, in-cab and depot electrical infrastructure, software for remote monitoring of charging operations to avoid peaks in energy consumption, as well as full investment financing.

Environmental impact

Considering that a suburban bus travels an average of 80 thousand kilometers per year (Uitp figure), the commissioning of the new electric buses, in place of diesel-powered vehicles, will allow a cut in emissions of about 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the absorption capacity of about 9 thousand trees placed on an area of 60 hectares of land.

E-bus technical characteristics

All of the electric buses are manufactured by Chinese’s Zonton, subsidiary of ZTE group (a first in the Italian market) feature a totally low floor with a platform for the disabled. The electric motor is of the permanent magnet synchronous type with a maximum power, for the 10.8-meter version, of 350 kW while for the 8.5-meter versions the power is 245 kW. Powering the motors are lithium iron phosphate battery packs, located on the roof, with a capacity of 383 kWh (for the longer models) and 268.7 for the 8.5-meter. The 10.8-meter bus carries a total of 90 passengers while there are 60 seats available on the shorter ones. Both types of buses are equipped with the most innovative active safety systems.