360 new 3-door electric buses procured by LTA

On 25 November 2023, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that 360 new electric buses would be procured, in contracts worth $166.4 million. Awarded to two manufacturers, this is the largest order of electric buses to date in Singapore.

The procurement tender, titled Procurement of single deck electric buses (Reference no.: PT601), was published on 27 March 2023. The LTA lists a full-low-floor layout with three doors and two wheelchair bays as necessary features for buses being supplied under this tender.

LTA stated that the contracts include an option for the authority to purchase up to 60 more electric buses if needed. On 23 October 2024, LTA announced that it had exercised this option, procuring 60 more buses from BYD, for a total of 420 new electric buses, of which 300 would be supplied by BYD.

In addition, the LTA also awarded a separate tender, titled Electric Vehicles Charging System (EVCS) for Electric Buses (Reference no.: BD401), for installing charging infrastructure at various bus depots and bus interchanges to support the procurement of these buses.

No chargers at bus interchanges were awarded, pointing to LTA’s preference for depot charging over pantograph charging used by the Linkker LM312. The quantity of charging piles at each depot, and output power specifications for these chargers, were also not announced.

The procurement of these electric buses and chargers represents another step towards Singapore’s public transport electrification goals, which aim for half of all public buses to be electric by 2030.

Background on Electric Buses in Singapore: Electric Buses in Singapore | Land Transport Guru

Tender Background

On 3 March 2023, at the Ministry of Transport’s (MOT) Committee of Supply (COS) Debate 2023, Minister for Transport S Iswaran announced that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will launch a tender in March 2023 for about 400 electric buses to replace diesel buses reaching the end of life from December 2024.

The tender, titled Procurement of single deck electric buses (Reference no.: PT601), was called on 27 March 2023. The tender closed on 3 Jul 2023, at 4:00 pm after an extension of 2 weeks.

According to contract specifications published on the government procurement portal GeBIZ, the LTA requires that bus suppliers have relevant expertise and experience in the manufacture and supply of electric buses. The following requirements were also listed:

1. Compliance with Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) Rules;
2. Right-hand drive electric buses;
3. One entrance and two exits;
4. Low-floor bus interior; and
5. Provision of two (2) wheelchair bays.

According to the Acting Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat in September 2023, the LTA also included an option for automated wheelchair ramps in the tender. [Link]

EV Chargers

The LTA also prepared a separate tender, titled Electric Vehicles Charging System (EVCS) for Electric Buses (Reference no.: BD401), for installing charging infrastructure at various bus interchanges and depots to support the procurement of these buses.

The awarding of the tender on 25 November 2023 revealed that Sengkang West, East Coast and Gali Batu Bus Depots were selected for charger installation, with Sengkang West and Gali Batu expected to be completed by 2024, and East Coast expected to be completed by 2025.

No bus interchanges were selected for charger installation.

For Sengkang West Bus Depot, 240 dual-gun EV chargers were installed, with each charger providing up to 360 kW of power, sufficient for fully charging an electric single-deck bus in 1.5 hours. These chargers are equipped with smart charging functions to optimise charging speed and efficiency, with real-time monitoring, control and diagnostic capabilities.

Rollout

In November 2023, LTA stated that the new electric buses would be progressively deployed for passenger service starting in December 2024, although a full rollout timeline was not provided.

In October 2024, LTA announced that the first 10 electric buses will begin passenger service in December 2024 on Bus Services 86, 107, and 159, utilizing the charging infrastructure at Sengkang West Bus Depot.

Award Criteria

According to the LTA, tender submissions were evaluated based on a two-envelope process which looked at both quality and price factors. The price envelopes were only opened after the quality evaluation was completed, which meant that LTA awarded contracts to tenderers with high-quality and value-for-money proposals. Criteria such as the tenderer’s experience, track record, technical specifications of the proposed bus and compliance with local regulations, were factored into the quality evaluation.

Both electric bus tenderers – BYD (Singapore) and Cycle & Carriage Automotive (partnered with Zhongtong Bus) – are established bus suppliers.

For the charging system tender, the quality evaluation took into account the contractor’s project management plans and track record, as well as the technical aspects of the design and deployment of charging systems, which include compliance to Singapore’s technical standards, as well as service support for operations and maintenance. The charging systems will be equipped with smart charging functions to optimise charging speeds and duration. In addition, they will also incorporate additional features such as real-time monitoring, diagnostic, control and reporting.

Background – First eBus Tender

In December 2017, the first small-scale electric bus tender was launched by LTA under Contract PT323, titled Procurement of Electric Buses (E-Buses). A total of 60 electric buses and supporting charging infrastructure were procured through this tender.

Bus Model / Qty	Tenderer	Bus type	Charging Mode
BYD K9 (20 units)	BYD (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.	Single-deck	Depot charging
Linkker LM312 (20 units)	ST Engineering Land Systems	Single-deck	Opportunity charging
Yutong E12 (10 units)	Yutong-NARI Consortium	Single-deck	Depot charging
Yutong E12DD (10 units)		Double-deck

Charging infrastructure for these electric buses was also provided by the various electric bus tenderers.

Bus Model / Qty	Charging Mode	Charging Manufacturer	Installed Locations
BYD K9 (20 units)	Depot charging (150kW CCS2)	ABB	Seletar Bus Depot
Linkker LM312 (20 units)	Opportunity charging (450kW OppCharge / Pantograph)	ABB	Bedok ITH Bukit Panjang ITH
Yutong E12 (10 units)	Depot charging (90kW CCS2)	NARI	Bulim Bus Depot Loyang Bus Depot
Yutong E12DD (10 units)

The operational and technical insights from this initial pilot rollout would support the rollout of more electric buses from the new tender.

Background – SG Green Plan 2030 & LTMP 2040

This tender would contribute to Singapore’s public transport electrification goals, including:

• 100% cleaner energy public bus fleet by 2040 (Land Transport Master Plan 2040; announced in 2019)
• Half of all public buses to be electric by 2030 (Singapore Green Plan 2030; announced in 2022)

Tenderers

As of the tender closing time, bids were submitted by 18 parties as follows, in which 8 tenderers were shortlised thereafter for this tender.

In addition to some automotive brands tendering under their own names like BYD, Volvo and Yutong, others are represented by local partners, such as Ankai (under Hong Seh), Foton (under Goldbell), and Zhongtong (under Cycle & Carriage).

Price Schedule

Price schedules for the following shortlisted tenderers were published, representing the unit prices (per bus) based on an order quantity of 50 or 100 buses.

All unit prices are inclusive of a S$350 reimbursable bus registration fee.

For the successful tenderers BYD and Cycle & Carriage (Zhongtong), the awarded sum of S$108.1 million and S$58.3 million represents a unit cost per bus of roughly S$450,400 and S$485,800 respectively, closely mirroring the unit prices offered for 100 buses.

No information is known regarding the differences between Base and Alternative bids proposed by ST Engineering and Volvo Group.

Commentary – Winning tenderers

BYD is an established electric vehicle manufacturer with various models of electric buses already operating in Singapore. The firm previously supplied 20 BYD K9 (Gemilang) buses to LTA under an earlier LTA eBus tender awarded in 2018, and 4 BYD C6 midibuses are leased to Tower Transit (previously SMRT) for operation on Bus Service 825. A double-deck electric bus, the BYD K9RC demonstrator (registered SG4005Z), is presently undergoing evaluation trials with SBS Transit.

According to BYD, the company will supply the BYD B12 bus for the LTA tender [Facebook Link]. The B12 bus range is BYD’s latest offering, with ComfortDelGro Bus recently purchasing ten BYD B12A03 buses as campus shuttle buses for NUS and NTU. These buses are configured as full-low-floor buses with three doors, making them well-suited to LTA requirements. Another BYD B12A03 demonstrator bus (registered SG4013A) is being offered to LTA for trials, and has yet to begin passenger service.

For Zhongtong, a Zhongtong LCK6126EVG (N12) demonstrator (registered SG4010H) is presently on trial with LTA.

Zhongtong also secured volume orders from ComfortDelGro Bus, with 35 Zhongtong N12 buses used as campus shuttle buses at NUS and NTU. These buses are configured as full-low-floor buses with two or three doors. Another Zhongtong N12 is in service with Tong Tar Transport.

Delivery

Buses were shipped to Singapore in the later half of 2024, with the first buses for this contract registered on 14 October 2024.

• BYD BC12A04
• Zhongtong LCK6126EVG (N12)

Commentary – Replacement Buses

LTA mentioned that these new electric buses procured would replace diesel buses reaching their 17-year statutory lifespan. These diesel buses are very likely to be Scania K230UB (Euro IV) buses, whose statutory lifespan would end between October 2024 – January 2026.

A total of 500 Scania K230UB (Euro IV) buses were procured by SBS Transit in 2006 (100 units; Batch 1) & 2007 (400 units; Batch 2), excluding a single demonstrator unit.

97 Scania K230UB (Euro IV) buses were retired early in January 2022 as part of a new Framework Agreement announced by SBS Transit and LTA in November 2021, in tandem with the transition of the Downtown Line to the New Rail Financing Framework Version 2. This leaves about 400 more Scania K230UB (Euro IV) buses on the roads as of March 2023, which matches LTA’s plans to procure 400 additional electric buses.

Concurrently, the Mercedes-Benz OC500LE buses would reach their 17-year statutory lifespan starting from June 2025. A total of 134 buses were registered between June 2008 and October 2009.

Commentary – Trial Buses

In recent months, many bus manufacturers have offered electric buses to LTA for trial purposes. This signifies strong interest from bus manufacturers worldwide in offering their products to the rapidly-emerging Singapore electric bus market. As a result, it is expected that this tender will see many bids from interested parties.

The following list includes 3-door buses designed for the Singapore market but yet to be offered to LTA for trial, or commenced revenue service.

As of 10 Nov 2024:

As of the time of this article’s publication (4 Mar 2023), the BYD K9RC (SG4005Z) was still undergoing trials with SBS Transit, while the CRRC TEG6125BEV03 (SG4006X)’s trial with Go-Ahead Singapore had concluded. The Volvo BZL – SC Neustar City (SG4007T) was registered with Tower Transit but had yet to enter passenger service.

Charging Infrastructure at new Bus Depots

Under Contract BD401 – Electric Vehicles Charging System (EVCS) for Electric Buses, which was called on 27 March 2023 for charging infrastructure at upcoming new bus depots & integrated transport hubs to support these electric buses.

The awarding of the tender on 25 November 2023 revealed that Sengkang West, East Coast and Gali Batu Bus Depots were selected for charger installation, with Sengkang West and Gali Batu expected to be completed by 2024, and East Coast expected to be completed by 2025.

No bus interchanges were selected for charger installation.

• Sengkang West Bus Depot
• Gali Batu Bus Depot
• East Coast Bus Depot

In an update by LTA in October 2024, Sengkang West bus depot will be fitted with 240 EV chargers, with each of these chargers provide up to 360kW of power, allowing for single-deck buses to be fully charged in less than 1.5 hours.

Related Articles

• 60 Electric Buses Procured by LTA
• 1 in 2 public buses to be electric by 2030

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References

• Factsheet: Sustaining the Momentum of Vehicle Electrification – Land Transport Authority [Accessed 27 Mar 2023]
• Speech by Minister For Transport S Iswaran at the Ministry of Transport Committee of Supply Debate on Building a Resilient, Sustainable and Inclusive Transport System – Ministry of Transport [Accessed 27 Mar 2023]
• LTA | More Electric Buses to be Deployed from December 2024 [Accessed 25 Nov 2023]
• New Electric Bus Features for Safer and Inclusive Journeys – Land Transport Authority [Accessed 23 Oct 2024]