Why are only Chinese electric buses so popular in Italy? The case of Turin

20 October 20204 years ago babelfish

Electric buses in Turin for spring 2021 but they will not be those of the Chinese Yutong, excluded from the tender (which was awarded) organized by Gtt Turin. We proceed with the second classified, the Chinese BYD. Why do Chinese companies always win? Bargain prices?

Electric buses in Turin will arrive and will always be Chinese. But not Yutong's.

The Chinese company Yutong had won the tender launched by the local public transport operator Gtt at the beginning of the year for 100 electric buses. But the 53.6 million euro contract was "canceled after verification". This was specified by Gtt, which is proceeding with the checks on the second bidder, also from China, BYD . The news is reported by the Turin newspaper La Stampa .

Only the two Chinese manufacturers took part in the tender: Yutong and BYD, the latter already well established in the Turin fleet.

The entry into service of electric vehicles was initially scheduled for 2021. According to the plans of the Municipality of Turin, one in five buses in service in 2021 in Turin will be electric. Despite this "hitch" in the race, for GTT the arrival of the vehicles remains on the agenda in the spring of next year.

All the details.

THE TENDER CONCLUDED IN JUNE

On June 26, the tender for the supply of the new 12-meter fully electric buses was concluded and two offers were received: both from Chinese companies, the Ares / Yutong group and BYD. The base price of a bus is 480 thousand euros.

As Repubblica reported, "the tender will be divided into two contracts, each for 50 vehicles and the objective is to ensure that the first supply enters service in the first months of 2021. The new vehicles will replace as many traditional combustion vehicles in the GTT fleet and will not be bound to intermediate recharges “as they have sufficient autonomy for daily operation – explain from corso Turati – Their entry into the fleet will bring significant advantages linked to the reduction of emissions”.

AWARDED BY YUTONG

At the end of July, news began to circulate that Yutong was the winner of the Turin race. An absolute novelty for the Chinese manufacturer that has overtaken the competitor BYD. The latter in fact is already present with 23 electric buses in service in Turin since 2017.

Yutong received a big order for 102 electric buses in Norway this year.

THROUGH ARES AUTOMOTIVE

In reality, as La Stampa explained, it was not Yutong itself, but the intermediary company Ares Automotive that submitted an offer to the Turin call for tenders. Among the elements that have raised perplexity to the commission, the fact that Ares has proposed to mount the vehicles during the journey by ship from China to Italy. A choice aimed at cutting costs that GTT did not like, so much so that it canceled the order for electric vehicles.

THE POSITION OF GTT TORINO

To clarify the matter, the Turin public transport operator took care of it via Facebook post. "With regard to the tender for the 100 electric buses, GTT followed the law which provides for the verification of the requirements after the provisional award" reads the note. “And excluding a competitor who did not have the necessary requirements. It does not mean at all that electric buses cannot circulate in Turin next spring, Gtt Torino specified.

“The race was neither canceled nor canceled. A competitor was simply "kicked out" who did not declare what was due, also reporting the fact to the judiciary. What happens now? Already at this stage, the legal offices of GTT have carried out almost all the legal checks on the runner-up, BYD Europe. For this reason, at the latest by the end of October, the definitive results of these checks will be obtained and if everything is ok, the procedure for signing the contract can be started. These are times that make it possible to comply with the indications relating to the arrival of vehicles in spring 2021 ”. Gtt underlines that adds: "The unknown factor of the appeals remains, which was not absent before as competitors had already made requests to the Regional Administrative Court".

WHAT WILL YUTONG DO THROUGH ARES

So there is the possibility of an appeal (as admitted by Gtt) by Ares for the exclusion of Yutong.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/perche-solo-autobus-elettrici-cinesi-spopolano-in-italia-il-caso-di-torino-gtt/ on Tue, 20 Oct 2020 06:03:39 +0000.