The Spanish city of Zaragoza aspires to be a climate-neutral city, and its City Council recently took the decision that all new urban buses would be electric.  The city currently has 4 zero-emissions buses and 111 hybrids, out of a fleet of about 470 vehicles.

As Sustainable Bus reports, transit operator Avanza has ordered 68 electric buses from Spanish OEM Irizar. The Irizar e-mobility ie tram is a fully electric bus with a futuristic design aesthetic. Zaragoza will buy 51 units of the 12-meter version, and 17 of the 18-meter articulated version, which has a maximum capacity of 145 people. Its lithium-ion batteries are developed and manufactured by Irizar.

This is Irizar e-mobility’s largest electric bus project to date.

Zaragoza will roll the e-buses out gradually, beginning late in 2022. Replacing each diesel bus with an electric bus will save an estimated 1,700 tons of CO₂ emissions throughout its service life.

Zaragoza’s transition to an electric fleet is expected to make it eligible for European funding under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, part of the Next Generation EU package. This appeared to be a major factor in the City Council’s decision.

Source: Sustainable Bus