On 26 August a new fleet of 214 electric buses headed to the south of Santiago de Chile has been presented. The new vehicles, provided by Chinese Yutong, will operate on 13 services, which will benefit more than 280,000 people per week.

According to the Minister of Transport, Juan Carlos Muñoz, the buses will renew the fleet of the Voy Santiago carrier, operating within the RED network.

According to a 2023 study by Centro Mario Molina Chile, together with the ZEBRA (Zero Emission Bus Rapid-deployment Accelerator) partnership of C40 and ICCT, the economic competitiveness of electric buses resulted in a TCO 32% lower than the TCO of their diesel counterparts.

Yutong electric buses for Santiago de Chile

Latin America appears to be a performance leader when it comes to electric bus deployment. As of late 2023, there were 5,083 electric buses in operation across Latin America (over 2,000 were in Chile, where Chinese Foton is the most represented manufacturer thanks to a deal landed in 2022 for over 1,000 e-buses) according to the E-Bus Radar launched in May 2020.

San Bernardo, El Bosque, La Cisterna and La Pintana are among the main district that will witness the new vehicles in operation.

The 214 new buses feature security cameras, wifi, USB chargers, air conditioning and better accessibility conditions for users with disabilities. They are 9 and 12 metres long and have an estimated capacity for 90 passengers for the longest buses.

With this renovation, Voy Santiago has 100% of its fleet operating with RED standard, leaving its old orange buses only as a reserve in case of contingencies.

Highlights

Related articles

Retrofleet, why choose retrofit to convert fleets. And save money

In recent years, the binge of funds put on the table by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan has allowed Italian transport operators, from North to South, to find themselves with millions and millions to invest in renewing urban bus fleets, strictly in the name of zero emissions. And so, in thi...

Electric bus, main fleets and projects around the world

Electric bus adoption in public transport urban fleet is growing all over the world. It started in China, and it has taken a few years for other regions to start the transition. In 2024, the electric city bus market in Europe (including the UK) grew 22% on 2023, reaching the figure of 7,779 ele...