Arrecife incorporates three 100% electric micro buses

The mayor of Arrecife, Astrid Pérez, presented this Monday morning the three new 100% electric micro bus units that will be incorporated into the regular passenger transport fleet in the city and that, as she has remarked, "will mark a before and after in the service currently provided by municipal buses."

"Arrecife puts Lanzarote on the path of sustainable and environmentally friendly public transport by being a pioneer in the introduction of 0% emission vehicles and contributing in a real and effective way to the reduction of CO2 emissions on the island," said the mayor of the city during the presentation ceremony in which the Councilor for Transport and Mobility of the consistory, Ángela Hernández, and the CEO of Karsan Spain, the supplying company, Fran Ramis, were present.

Ástrid Pérez has highlighted the investment of 866,667 euros made in the acquisition of these three new vehicles "after more than 20 years in which a new bus did not enter the municipal garage." "In addition to renewing the fleet, the three micros will allow us to reinforce the service of the two existing lines and resume the radial line between the city center and the José Molina Orosa Hospital area, which we will do as soon as the three drivers who are pending join," explained the highest official of the consistory, who insisted that "the path of Arrecife towards green transport is unstoppable, with municipal buses being a key piece to make more city."

In this sense, she recalled that "the purchase of two new 100% electric buses with a minimum capacity of 45 passengers for an amount of 885,00O euros is already out to tender, which will replace the two vehicles that were burned last February in the fire that occurred in the municipal garage."

E-Jest, the small bus

For his part, Fran Ramis, CEO of Karsan Spain, highlighted during the presentation that the e-Jest model or small bus, 100% electric, is a very effective option to bring electromobility to populations of the dimensions of Arrecife. "In recent years we have made significant progress leading the way towards the electric evolution of public transport with its latest technology in electric and autonomous vehicles used throughout the world and now also in smaller populations, but of equal relevance as is the case of Arrecife. Sustainable mobility must be possible regardless of the volume of population and one of our missions at Karsan is to make it a reality."

"The E-Jest units are zero-emission, silent vehicles with a capacity for 26 passengers and fully accessible with a ramp for wheelchairs and baby carriages. Its compact design makes these micro buses have the particularity of being able to circulate through narrow streets without any difficulty, so it can potentially access almost all points of the city," they point out from the company.

"These are functional and very comfortable vehicles for both the driver and the passengers, and are equipped with the latest technical and technological advances. They have an energy of 88 kWh, a maximum autonomy of 210 km and a maximum capacity of 22 passengers. Although the e-JEST works with batteries, it is as powerful as diesel vehicles. This power comes from a 100% electric BMW engine that guarantees high performance in its acceleration," explains the company.

More city

During the last three and a half years, from the Department of Transport and Mobility led by Angela Hernández, "there has been a commitment to the reorganization of the service and the tuning of the vehicles because they were almost two decades old and most were broken down and in disuse due to lack of maintenance contract," they point out from the Consistory.

Once these problems have been solved, and an employment exchange for drivers has been opened, the improvement in the service has been reflected in the progressive increase in the number of users, going from almost 247,000 in 2020 to 359,000 with which the service closed last year.