60 Electric Buses Procured by LTA

On 24 October 2018, LTA the awarded a contract for the Procurement of Electric Buses (E-Buses) to 3 different tenderers, at a total sum of $50.64 million.

1	20 single-deck electric buses (BYD K9 / Depot slow charging)	BYD (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.	S$17.246 million
2	20 single-deck electric buses (Linkker LM312 / Pantograph fast charging)	ST Engineering Land Systems	S$15.148 million
3	10 single-deck and 10 double-deck electric buses (Yutong E12 and Yutong E12DD / Depot slow charging)	Yutong-NARI Consortium	S$18.247 million

Initially, it was announced that the 60 electric buses will progressively arrive in Singapore from 2019, with the final batch delivered in 2020. Details regarding the depot and bus service allocation for the buses will be announced closer to the implementation date. These buses will hit the roads in early 2020.

In October 2020, amidst the launch of the Yutong E12DD electric bus, it was announced that the full rollout of electric buses would be delayed to 2021.

Under the scope of the tender, each successful tenderer will also provide charging infrastructure at both bus interchanges and bus depots. Furthermore, the LTA had opted to trial both cable charging and overhead pantograph charging methods. In contrast with the Hybrid Bus tender (awarded at $28.5 million), the 50 Volvo B5LH buses were procured at a significantly lower unit cost than each of the 60 electric buses (and their charging infrastructure).

Learn more about Electric Buses in Singapore here.

Background

Tender PT323 for Procurement of Electric Buses (E-Buses) was put up by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Tuesday, 12 December 2017.

As announced by Second Minister for Transport Ng Chee Meng during the Ministry of Transport’s Committee of Supply Debate in March 2017, the government intended to procure 50 hybrid buses and 60 electric buses in 2017. This allowed the LTA to expand its trial of such “green” vehicles, which while environmentally-friendly, were more costly and less suitable for the island’s tropical climate. Electric vehicles operating in Singapore consume a lot of energy for air-conditioning, and their batteries and/or hybrid systems work less efficiently in our warm and humid environment.

The Diesel Hybrid bus tender was awarded to Volvo earlier in 2017. The manufacturer would deliver Volvo B5LH buses which entered service in December 2018.

As for the Electric Buses, the Land Transport Authority would allocate the buses to all existing Bus Operators (SBS Transit, SMRT Buses, Tower Transit, Go-Ahead Singapore) for operation on selected bus services. As of 2018, the majority of LTA’s bus assets were Euro V compliant diesel buses.

A battery-powered all-electric bus had previously been trialled locally by a Public Transport Operator. Between November 2016 and May 2017, a BYD K9 bus was operating with Go-Ahead Singapore under an LTA-initiated trial. Previous trials in Singapore have involved diesel-hybrid buses such as the Sunlong SLK6121UF14H, and Zhongtong LCK6121G HEV, and Volvo B5RLE Hybrid.

BYD K9:

Tender submissions closed on 23 April 2018 at 4:00PM after 2 extensions.

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Tenderers

As of the tender closing time, 10 bids were submitted. As part of the tender evaluation process, the LTA took into consideration the track records of the firms, their technical capabilities, adherence to requirements and compliance with local regulations. Results were announced on 24 October 2018, with 3 different tenderers awarded the contract, at a total sum of $50.64 million.

S/No	Tenderer	Price
1.	BYD Singapore Pte. Ltd.	S$17,246,317.00 (20 SD) S$16,461,747.00 (20 SD Base)
2.	CaetanoBus – Fabricacao de Carrocarias S.A.	S$23,149,720.00 (20 SD)
3.	Cycle & Carriage Industries Pte. Limited	Not Shortlisted
4.	ST Engineering Land Systems (Bidded as: Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd)	S$15,148,400.00 (20 SD) S$13,826,400.00 (20 SD Base) S$16,956,400.00 (10 DD + 10 SD)
5.	Tron Energy Technology Corporation	Not Shortlisted
6.	Volvo East Asia (Pte) Ltd	S$28,829,756.00 (20 SD)
7.	Yutong-NARI Consortium (Bidded as: Zheng Zhou Yu Tong Bus Co., Ltd.)	S$18,246,523.70 (10 DD + 10 SD) S$17,287,513.70 (20 SD) S$19,205,533.70 (20 DD)
8.	Zhongtong Bus Holding Co., Ltd.	S$18,198,862.00 (20 SD)
9.	Zhuhai Granton Bus And Coach Co., Ltd.	Not Shortlisted
10.	Zhuhai Guangtong Automobile Co., Ltd	S$15,871,872.00 (20 SD)

Based on the tender award, LTA picked an alternate bid from ST Engineering that was $1.3 million higher than its quoted base price. Similarly, LTA had gone for an unknown option that increased the cost of the BYD tender by almost $800,000 (which was not reflected in the list of BYD’s alternate bids).

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Bus Models

On 11 November 2019, one unit each of the Yutong E12 Bus (SG3098L), BYD K9 Bus (SG3060U) & ST Engineering Retrofitted Electric Bus were displayed at Ulu Pandan Bus Depot, alongside a graduation ceremony for bus technicians under the Certification for Technical Specialist (CTS) at the Bus Technical Specialist Certification Centre.

BYD K9

Fleet & Operators

• SBS Transit (20 units)
  SG3050Z – SG3069X

Linkker LM312

Based on an article published by Finnish technology and business website Tekniikka & Talous in January 2019, Linkker had recently been awarded a contract for 20 electric buses for the Singapore market.

See Also: Linkker to supply ST Engineering with electric bus components

Fleet & Operators

• SBS Transit [10 units] SG3070R – SG3072K, SG3078U – SG3082G, SG3088R & SG3089M
• SMRT Buses [10 units] SG3073H – SG3077Y & SG3083D – SG3087T

Yutong E12

In September 2019, the Yutong E12 single-deck bus was identified through online photos.

Fleet & Operators

• Tower Transit [4 units]
  SG3090H – SG3092C & SG3099J
• Go-Ahead Singapore [3 units]
  SG3093A – SG3095U
• SMRT Buses [3 units]
  SG3096S – SG3098L

Yutong E12DD

In an online photo circulated in late-August 2019, the Yutong double-deck bus has been identified as the Yutong E12DD.

Fleet & Operators

• SMRT Buses [3 units]
  SG7000S – SG7002L
• Tower Transit [3 units] SG7003J – SG7005D
  
• Go-Ahead Singapore [4 units]
  SG7006B – SG7009T

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Charging Infrastructure

For the 60 electric buses, three firms were awarded the tender for 20 buses each, namely BYD, ST Engineering and Yutong-NARI Consortium. As part of tender requirements, tenderers were also required to provide the necessary charging infrastructure to support their fleets. ABB revealed in a press release on July 2019 that they would be supplying the electric bus charging infrastructure for BYD & ST Engineering as part of this tender.

BYD

The 20 BYD Electric Buses procured under this tender will be charged by 10 units of ABB’s 150 kW chargers at night at Seletar Bus Depot. For each charger, up to 2 electric buses can be connected and charged sequentially while parked at the depot, enabling all 20 buses to be fully charged within 4.5 hours.

Linkker

For the 20 Linkker LM312 buses, ABB will supply 4 units of 450kW fast chargers at “key interchanges” based on the OppCharge interface. With an automated rooftop connection via a pantograph, these buses will take less than ten minutes to charge.

In January 2020, 2 reverse pantographs were installed each at Bukit Panjang & Bedok Integrated Transport Hubs

 

Yutong

Chinese bus manufacturer Yutong, which won the tender under a consortium with Chinese electric power equipment supplier NARI, uses chargers supplied by NARI to charge their buses.

Chargers have been installed at Bulim Bus Depot & Loyang Bus Depot to support operations of these Electric Buses.

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See Also

• BYD K9
• Go-Ahead Singapore trials BYD Electric Bus
• Sunlong SLK6121UF14H
• Volvo B5RLE Hybrid
• Volvo 7900 Hybrid
• Zhongtong LCK6121G HEV
• Diesel Hybrid Buses to be procured by LTA
• Volvo Diesel Hybrid Buses procured by LTA

External Links & References:

• LTA Tender Information
• LTA Awards Contract for 60 Electric Buses to Three Tenderers – LTA
• ABB to provide charging infrastructure for public e-buses in Singapore – ABB
• LTA to Deploy Electric Buses from Early 2020 – LTA

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