Bogdan Corporation, in a consortium with Czech company Tram For Envi, will supply six new autonomous trolleybuses for the transport company in Jihlava (the Czech Republic) following a tender in which the consortium was declared the winner almost a year ago, the corporation said on its Facebook page on Saturday with reference to the Czech media.
“For the first time, the Ukrainian manufacturer has managed to penetrate the Czech market with new trolleybuses. The signing of the contract can be seen from the data in the register of contracts. The contract was signed almost a year after the transport company Jihlava had declared the association the winner. The purchase will be financed through a European subsidy,” the Czech ezine Zdopravy.cz quoted Bogdan corporation as saying.
According to the contract, the Bogdan T70120 trolleybuses must be adapted to the requirements of the Czech market, in particular, the electrical equipment for them must be supplied by the Czech company Cegelec. The delivery time is estimated at 14 months.
The Czech newspaper notes that before that, for many years, only Škoda Electric had won contracts for the supply of trolleybuses, and the arrival of other manufacturers began to lead to significant price reductions.
As reported, in May 2020, a tender proposal of Bogdan Corporation in a consortium with Czech TRAM FOR ENVI s.r.o. was declared the best in a tender to supply six trolleybuses fitted with traction batteries for autonomous running for a transport company of Jihlava (the Czech Republic). The Czech-Ukrainian consortium offered trolleybuses for CZK 71.4 million (about EUR 2.64 million) or CZK 11.9 million for one trolleybus (EUR 440,300) with an estimated purchase amount of being CZK 82.74 million (EUR 3.06 million).
At the same time, Škoda Electric, which participated in the tender, offered a price of CZK 82.17 million (EUR 3.04 million) or CZK 13.695 million for a trolleybus.
The Bogdan Corporation has issued its first electric truck ERCV27 for loading solid household waste under a contract with Denmark’s Banke Electromotiv.
The truck was presented on November 22 at the Bogdan Motors automobile plant in Lutsk with the participation of Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan.
“We are gradually refuting the widespread opinion that Ukraine is exclusively agrarian. The presented electric transport is fully designed and created in Ukraine. It will be “Made in Ukraine” in the European Union,” the ministry’s press service reported on its website, citing Omelyan as saying.
The press service of the Bogdan Corporation said that the mass production of cars will begin after their certification in Denmark.
As reported, the agreement signed between the Bogdan Motors plant in Lutsk and Banke Electromotiv for the designing and production of garbage collection trucks signed in the spring of this year involves the manufacture of 15 trucks. In general, Banke Electromotive requires about 200 trucks a year.
“As long as European companies order ecofriendly special vehicles for the removal of household waste from a Ukrainian manufacturer, our state is lagging behind in this matter. Although the Bogdan’s electric truck with its characteristics is ahead, and the company is ready to produce it for Ukrainian cities,” the corporation’s press service said.
In turn, according to the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry, Omelyan pointed out the importance of creating conditions for the development of electric transport in Ukraine as soon as possible.
“We have visited a workshop that is ready for operation, we just need to start it. To do this, we need to create conditions for restoring the automotive industry in Ukraine. In particular, we initiated an electric bus at the Boryspil airport, and I hope it will be Ukrainian electric bus,” the press service said, quoting Omelyan.
The Bogdan Corporation has hanlded five 12-meter bodies for electric buses to France’s Bluebus environment-friendly transport manufacturer under a contract signed this spring.
The press service of Bogdan Motors reported on Wednesday that the bus bodies were shipped in the approved terms. The customer expressed its interest in further cooperation.
“This contract confirms the competitiveness of the domestic automotive industry in the EU market. Our enterprises are ahead of European products by their cost and, most importantly, they do not concede them in quality. With the government support, Ukrainian plants will be able to strengthen their positions and find new customers in Europe,” the press service reported, citing Director of Automobile Assembly Plant No. 1 of Bogdan Motors (Lutsk) Dmytro Pysany.
The press service said that the plant in Lutsk designs and produces electric transport since 2008, which can become the basis for expanding cooperation between the Ukrainian plant and the French customer. The corporation recalled that this year the Lutsk plant intends to develop and produce at least 15 electric special trucks for EU cities under the contract concluded with Denmark’s BankeElectromotive. In the case of successful pilot operation, mass production of trucks for Western Europe will begin this year.
