Swiss bus manufacturer Hess has won a tender for Geneva’s public transport company TPG (Transports Publics Genvois). TPG now entrusts Hess with the delivery of his 119 very long tram-like electric buses.
TPG expects 65 articulated buses and 54 double-articulated lightTram TOSA type buses to enter service in the first half of 2025. The electric bendi buses are officially designated lightTram 19 TOSA and lightTram 25 TOSA, according to their lengths of 19 and 25 metres.
In parallel with Hess delivering the vehicles, TPG contracted with Hitachi Energy to install the charging infrastructure at the depot. A partner with whom he has worked regularly since 2013, also in Geneva. In 2017, the Swiss company ABB built the first so-called TOSA charging station, before his first 12 buses began using the infrastructure a year later. ABB has since sold its power grids division to Hitachi, initially as a joint venture, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, operating as Hitachi Energy from 2021 onwards.
Hess is primarily known for its trolleybuses (with overhead lines), but TDG chose the manufacturer’s battery-electric buses for its range. Hess Buses in Geneva he operates six routes and relies on the so-called Opportunity Charging. In other words, charge when you can. In this case, the new bus will charge at the terminal and make one or two stops along the route.
Hess assembles TPG’s electric buses in Switzerland, but they are no longer 100% Swiss made. Until now, the bodyshell was manufactured in secondary production in Minsk, Belarus, but due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, Hess continued production in his spring of 2022. The company’s new Porto plant has just started operations and will produce shells. Final assembly continues at the main factory in Bellach, Switzerland. Hitachi Energy will manufacture infrastructure components at its Geneva location.
TPG’s new electric buses will replace 189 Citaro diesel vehicles and older trolleybuses that will reach the end of their service life in 2025/26. This fleet update includes another of his 18 trams ordered from Stadler. TPG aims to have an all-electric fleet by 2030.
Toshi Kotsu Magazine.com, Sustainable Bus.com
