The Municipal Transport Company of Madrid has awarded a total of 150 standard electric buses, which will arrive in Madrid between 2022 and 2023, for an amount of 81 million euros (excluding VAT).
The manufacturer Irizar, with a batch of 90 units, and the Solaris brand, with another second batch of 60 vehicles, have been the winners of the largest electric tender called by the EMT to date.
The 12-meter buses (90 of the Irizar ieBus model and 60 of the Solaris Urbino 12 model) will be incorporated into the Madrid fleet gradually between now and the end of 2023. The base budget for this tender has risen to 82, 5 million euros (excluding VAT).
The Madrid City Council has requested for the EMT, within the framework of the Aid Program for municipalities for the implementation of low-emission zones and the digital and sustainable transformation of urban transport, the financing of the Next Generation funds for the acquisition of 206 buses electricity for an amount of 41.2 million, a request currently admitted in a provisional resolution.
With the next additions in sight, the EMT forecasts that the municipal electric fleet will be made up of 190 vehicles by the end of 2022, reaching 329 vehicles by the end of 2023, a forecast that is in line with the objective of advancing in the progressive electrification of the fleet, objective of the Madrid 360 Environmental Sustainability Strategy. The outlook is that, from a current average age of the fleet calculated at 5.1 years, this average will drop to 4.64 years at the end of 2022 .
In the bidding procedure, the following automatic evaluation criteria have been taken into consideration: maximum price of 550,000 euros per unit, the additional guarantee offered by the manufacturers, the autonomy of the vehicles and the cost of energy consumption.
Likewise, a set of criteria linked to technical offers has been considered, such as the availability of resources, adaptation to EMT standards, telematic control systems and delivery times, among many others.
The Strategic Plan of the EMT
The Strategic Plan that the Madrid City Council and the EMT have designed until 2025 includes ambitious projects to advance in electrification in the near future, such as the transformation of the current facilities of the La Elipa Operations Center into a reference center to house a fleet of 100 % electric. This enclosure will have a capacity of up to 318 electric buses and will have a large photovoltaic installation that will be a benchmark for energy efficiency at the national level.
The EMT plans also include the remodeling and adaptation of the Carabanchel, Entrevías and Sanchinarro operations centers to the new operational needs of the municipal company, rigorously under criteria of sustainability and efficiency. Decarbonisation and the adoption of a sustainable energy model is one of the four corporate objectives included in this Strategic Plan. All the actions that make up the plan respond to the challenges and needs of the EMT and current mobility trends.
For the execution of these projects and in order to revolutionize the municipal company, the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, announced at the beginning of the year a historic investment of 1,001.8 million euros until the year 2025. The objective, “to guarantee citizens a sustainable, safe, integrated and innovative public transport”, according to Almeida. Within the Madrid 360 Environmental Sustainability Strategy, the councilor promised to end the diesel bus fleet this year.
