LISBON, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Lisbon's main public transport company launched an 11.7 million euros (14.41 million U.S. dollars) tender to acquire 15 electric buses on Monday.
The tender invites bids for the supply of 15 "standard" electric buses for urban public transport, along with all requisite charging stations and maintenance services.
The announcement was made in the Diario da Republica, the official mouthpiece of the Portuguese state. The contract will be for 16 years and is worth 11.704 million euros. Proposals must be sent to Carris by May 16.
Carris operates Lisbon's buses, trams and funiculars, though not its metro.
Earlier this year, Carris announced plans to invest in 460 new buses by 2021, of which 30 would be electric.
Among likely bidders for the new tender will be Caetano Bus, whose eBUS was road-tested in the cities of Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Guimaraes and Braga in late 2016 and early 2017.
The eBUS is a silent, zero carbon emissions electric bus developed by Caetano Bus, a Portuguese bus manufacturer, in partnership with Siemens and engineers at Porto University.
Porto also aims to have 15 electric buses on the streets by 2019.
(1 euro =1.23 U.S. dollars)
