BELGIUM
Sustainable mobility is no longer a dream of the future, says Belgian operator Hansea, which already has 90 MAN Lion’s City E electric buses in service and has recently ordered a further 181 e-buses from the German manufacturer, bringing its fleet to a total of 271 fully electric city buses acquired since 2021.
“With this new order, the Hansea fleet will grow to over 270 MAN eBuses, making it the largest zero-emission bus fleet in Belgium,” said Head of Bus at MAN Truck & Bus Barbaros Oktay, adding: ”We are incredibly proud that Hansea has once again opted for our e-bus.
The order clearly shows how satisfied Hansea is with our Lion’s City E and that it is proving its worth day after day.”
The vehicles will be delivered later this year and into 2025. “Sustainability is a key issue for us as well as for MAN. The order is definitely a milestone that confirms our joint commitment to sustainability,” added Hansea CEO Joris Larosse. “Our goal is to fully electrify our entire bus fleet by 2035. We have relied on MAN to convert our fleet right from the start. Over the last 10 years, we have developed a trusted partnership based on intense professional cooperation.”
In addition to the environmental friendliness of the city buses, reliability and flexibility also played a decisive role in opting for MAN, the Belgian company says. It has ordered a mix of short 10 metre, standard 12 metre and articulated 18 metre buses. They will be used on routes operated on behalf of public transport companies De Lijn and TEC as well as its own services.
Hansea has specified the buses with MAN’s OptiView mirror replacement system to reduce blind spots, as well as a reversing camera and LED headlights. Another decisive factor in the new order, the operator says, was many years of good cooperation with the Belgian bus division of MAN Truck & Bus as well as the delivery capability and the strong MAN service network, which it can rely on.
Hansea tested its first electric bus, part of the MAN Truck & Bus e-bus demonstration fleet, for a year in 2021. “This is a real success story that we are extremely proud of. After all, it also played a key role in our becoming the market leader for e-buses in Europe last year and the production figures for the Lion’s City E are steadily increasing,” explained Barbaros.
