Iveco Bus has inaugurated its new electric bus production facility in Foggia, Italy, near the Iveco Group FPT Industrial plant for industrial engines. This new Foggia factory should also produce the 500 ordered electric buses for the Flemish public transport company De Lijn.

Iveco Bus was already present in Italy with its Suzarra plant, which also produces minibusses based on the Daily platform. But for full-sized buses, the Italian manufacturer was absent from its home country until now, with other facilities in France and the Czech Republic.

Electric, hydrogen, and… diesel?

The Foggia electric bus plant was built in eight months and will produce 1 000 vehicles per year thanks to a 100-strong workforce of specialized employees. Mainly battery-electric and hydrogen-electric buses will be made in Foggia, but “low-emission propulsion” drivetrains ((bio)methane, biofuels, and… traditional fuels) will also appear on the production lines.

The plant required an investment of around 40 million euros, partly covered by the Italian government thanks to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

The opening of this new (mostly) electric bus plant fits nicely into the timeline given by Flemish public transport company De Lijn, which ordered up to 500 e-buses from Iveco Bus at the beginning of 2023, with the first 65 deliveries expected in 2024. These will be fixed-body and articulated e-buses with a driving range of around 300 km, which is enough for the daily workload of De Lijn.