Contract award for 39 battery buses for KVG Lippe

BLIC's electric mobility team has been supporting the project since the conception phase

Electromobility

The decarbonization of urban and regional transport is also being driven forward in the district of Lippe in North Rhine-Westphalia, and an important milestone was reached at the end of March 2024: The contract for the delivery of 39 battery buses was awarded to Daimler Buses. BLIC's electric mobility team has been supporting the project since the conception phase.

The local KVG Lippe (Kommunale Verkehrsgesellschaft Lippe) will initially convert three route bundles to electric bus operation. To this end, the KVG is procuring a total of 39 battery buses, including an 8-year service and maintenance contract with Daimler Buses. The vehicles will be provided to the future operating companies as part of the new awarding of route concessions. The service and maintenance contract has the advantage that smaller bus operators can also take part in the tender for transport services without having to build up the expertise and capacity to maintain the battery buses.

Together with KVG Lippe, BLIC initially developed a deployment concept for the e-buses with intermediate charging. BLIC was then responsible for preparing and carrying out the Europe-wide tendering process for the 39 e-buses, which was successfully concluded in March 2024 with Daimler Buses being awarded the contract.

The first e-buses are scheduled to roll through the district of Lippe from the second quarter of 2025. Even after the contract has been awarded, BLIC will continue to provide full support for the project: with the integration of the charging infrastructure, the introduction of a charging management system and other preparatory planning and implementation for successful e-bus deployment.

Our electric mobility team has supported KVG Lippe in the following tasks and continues to support KVG Lippe in its project:

  • Creation of a deployment concept for vehicles and charging infrastructure
  • Funding management for federal and NRW state funding
  • Preparation of the tender documents with suitability and award criteria
  • Supporting the draft contracts for delivery and maintenance
  • Planning and implementation of tests
  • Conducting bidder interviews
  • Evaluation of bids
  • Preparation of an award recommendation

If you have any questions, please contact our project manager Marc Herkenrath, our expert for vehicle procurement and the decarbonization of bus networks.