Ikarus wins North Macedonian electric bus tender with a Zhongtong model

The largest electric bus procurement in Ikarus’s history has been successfully concluded: according to the now final result of the procedure, the long-established company will be able to supply 150 fully electric solo city buses, together with the 75 electric chargers required for their operation, to the capital and regional cities of North Macedonia. At the same time, a major change compared with the practice of recent years is that Ikarus did not enter the tender in cooperation with CRRC this time, but with a model from another Chinese bus manufacturer, Zhongtong, which is expanding ever more vigorously in Europe as well — a move that may even point to a fundamental shift in the Székesfehérvár-based company’s market strategy and partnerships.

According to press material sent by Ikarus to our portal, Ikarus Electric Zrt., with a joint bid submitted together with Zhongtong Bus Holding Co., Ltd. and, as energy partner, EVN Macedonia Elektrosnabduvanje DOOEL, has officially and now definitively won the public procurement procedure for electric buses and charging stations reissued by North Macedonia’s transport ministry following an earlier cancellation. As is known, the ministry first announced the tender this spring, which was also won by the Ikarus consortium at the time, but that victory was annulled a few weeks later on formal grounds. In the repeated procedure, Ikarus again appeared to be in pole position — of the bids received, those from Turkey’s BMC Otomotiv and Ikarus Electric Zrt. met the tender requirements and therefore advanced to the electronic auction, where the consortium led by Ikarus Electric Zrt. ultimately submitted the most favourable offer — and this time, after the appeal deadline expired, the contract award also became final.

Under the project, financed from North Macedonian state funds, the consortium will supply 150 fully electric, full-length low-floor city buses, along with 75 electric plug-in chargers to serve them, for Skopje and the smaller North Macedonian cities participating in the programme. Delivery of the vehicles will take place in three phases after the contract is signed: 30 buses and 15 charging units in the first six months, a further 60 buses and 30 chargers within twelve months, and the remaining 60 buses and 30 chargers within eighteen months.

In its press release, Ikarus describes the result as the first defining milestone in the company’s expansion in the Balkans, one that strengthens the brand’s presence in the European electromobility market and, it hopes, creates a solid basis for the company’s further local and regional market growth. As the company writes, the investment, built on strong international partnerships, has as a „key strategic objective the creation of a high level of local added value; therefore, the vast majority of services related to the full life cycle of the vehicles will be implemented with the involvement of local partners and suppliers, thereby strengthening the efficiency and sustainability of the supply chain, as well as long-term, mutually beneficial cooperation” — in other words, this essentially refers to the provision of after-sales services by local partners.

The image supplied by Ikarus with the press material, showing a Zhongtong N12

For the time being, the parties have not commented on the vehicles themselves or their specifications — however, the image attached to the press release shows a Zhongtong N12 electric bus, so it is almost certain that the consortium secured this contract, outstanding even by European standards in terms of volume, with this model. This also seems to be supported by the fact that Zhongtong is otherwise open to similar forms of cooperation: in some Northern European countries, for example, distribution is handled by Lithuania’s Altas Auto, which also manufactures minibuses of its own design, in such a way that the Chinese manufacturer’s smaller electric models are sold under Altas Auto’s own name, while the full-size vehicles are marketed with Zhongtong’s original logo. In the case of Ikarus, there is as yet no substantive information on further details of the cooperation, including any potential partial local production or the brand name under which the buses to be delivered to North Macedonia will be supplied — as soon as we obtain more detailed information, we will of course inform our readers.

The cover image is for illustration purposes.