Jonathan Welch gets behind the wheel of Karsan’s e-JEST and discovers that the quirky minibus is actually quite a serious proposition
One of only a handful of new vehicle types presented at last year’s Euro Bus Expo, the e-JEST certainly stood out for being different to anything else at the show. In fact, it stood out as being different full stop. It’s a type of vehicle we’re not used to in the UK, combining the size of a minibus with the structure of a ‘big’ bus, as opposed to a van or chassis-cowl based product.
I can’t think of many comparable vehicles; even the smallest Optare Solo or MCW Metrorider is a size category above the e-JEST. The Optare Alero springs to mind as one recent attempt in the early 2000s, and is one which despite having gained a reputation for poor reliability actually sold around 300 examples, highlighting a demand for such small, easy-access buses. Nonetheless, like a lot of people who saw it, I will admit to being sceptical when I saw Karsan’s gold-coloured e-JEST at the National Exhibition Centre back in November. An overseas manufacturer, trying to find a spot for an unusual vehicle in a traditionally very conservative marketplace sounds like a recipe for disaster.
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