Heuliez Bus to produce 500 buses in 2020, one third foreseen to be battery-electric

High sales figures and a dramatic increase of the zero-emission vehicles’ share: in 2020 Heuliez Bus expects to produce 500 buses (as in the record year 2013) in the plant of Rorthais (France). More than one third of them will be electrically driven and belonging to the range GX Elec (137, 347 or 437).

The news concerning the French company, under the umbrella of CNH Industrial group, is reported on the local news website https://www.ouest-france.fr.

Heuliez Bus, 500 buses to be produced in 2020

Reportedly, Heuliez Bus management has communicated a figure of 439 buses produced in Rorthais during 2019. A trade union spokesman said to Ouest France that «We are satisfied with the number of orders and the production which is consistent. In 2020, we are going to manufacture three vehicles per day and we should reach the levels of 2013, a record year with more than 500 vehicles per year». What is more, more than one third of the production will be made of electric buses.

RATP to receive 100 electric buses by Heuliez

In fact, several electric buses will be delivered in 2020 in the Netherlands (Groningen-Drenthe concession will benefit of 59 units of the articulated GX 437 Elec), and around 100 vehicles are going to be supplied to RATP. The Parisian public transport company awarded Heuliez Bus with a contract for up to 133 million euros, as an outcome of the huge tender for up to 800 e-buses won by Heuliez Bus, Alstom and Bollorè.

Heuliez GX 337 Elec, the launch in 2018

The 12-meter electric bus by Heuliez, the first battery-electric bus in CNH Industrial family, is called GX 337 Elec, was shown by Heuliez at Iveco diesel-free stand at IAA 2018 and is equipped with a 120/195 KW electric motor and with 360 KWh Lithium-ion NMC batteries divided into 8 packs. Six of them are settled on the roof, and two in the tailgate. This model is designed for all-day-use, with night time recharging at the depot in a few hours.
The manufacturer uses batteries made by Forsee Power, a French company (their batteries have been adopted also by Alstom for its electric bus Aptis). Heuliez electric bus range is completed by the GX 137 Elec (9.5 or 10.7-meter) and the 18-meter GX 437 Elec.

It is unclear wether the range will be rebranded as Iveco e-Way, launched during Busworld 2019 in Brussels. Under the name e-Way, the 12-meter was able to run for as many as 527 km on a single charge.