According to Autolinee Toscane, the 25 new vehicles in the fleet are the K9UD model from BYD. The units have three doors, a length of 12 metres and a passenger capacity of 85 people. The batteries with 422 kWh on board should guarantee a range of 260 kilometres. The batteries are BYD’s own LFP technology. With the 25 new additions, the operator now has 47 electric buses in operation. Ten electric minibuses of the Gulliver type from Tecnobus and twelve recently acquired e-Jest from Karsan were already in service.
Autolinee Toscane has electrified its Peretola depot for the new BYD electric buses. The charging system there is expected to have a total output of 1.72 megawatts. However, the company does not specify how many charging points this output will be distributed across. Meanwhile, the expansion of the charging infrastructure is already continuing: according to the RATP subsidiary, a second charging system is currently being built in Olmatello. This is because the company is planning to integrate 53 more electric buses by mid-2026, bringing the e-fleet to 100 units. The electric buses which are still to be delivered include eight solo buses from local manufacturer Iveco. All other outstanding vehicles will be supplied by BYD, bringing the total order from the Chinese manufacturer (including the 25 vehicles that have now been delivered) to 70 units.
The newly arrived BYD buses will mainly serve city lines 6, 20 and 23 for the time being. “This project is part of our policy to encourage a different way of moving around and living [in] the city, and to reduce polluting emissions. Today, we are delivering to the people of Florence the first batch of 25 more comfortable, quieter, more efficient and more modern vehicles,” commented Andrea Giorgio, Councillor for Transport of the City of Florence, on the arrival of the 25 vehicles.
sustainable-bus.com, autonews.gasgoo.com, at-bus.it (in Italian)
