MAN Truck & Bus used the Expo to introduce its latest chassis model, which highlights its electric low-floor capabilities
MAN Truck & Bus is focused on increasing its success in Australia by introducing a new product modelled off its global electric chassis.
After working its way down the vehicle emissions scale, MAN Truck & Bus unveiled its new Lion’s Chassis E LF at its Bus & Coach Expo stand.
The fully electric low-floor chassis made its debut at the MAN stand at Sydney Showgrounds. The new E LF is based on the City E model, which was recently voted the International Bus of the Year for 2023.
“What we have is proof that we are leading the trend towards zero-emissions vehicles in our industry,” MAN head of bus and coach at Penske Australia Crinel Geaboc told ABC. “Our Euro 6e emissions chassis on display is the latest technology in diesel engine supply, reducing the carbon footprint of existing conventional diesel chassis.
“This chassis has the DNA of a very successful bus in Europe. We have the pleasure of introducing this to customers at the Expo.”
The head of MAN’s bus and coach division at Penske Australia says he is grateful to have the support of a team and logistics chain that kept pressure on both ends to ensure the E LF chassis made it across to Sydney. Geaboc says MAN made tweaks to the Lion’s City E chassis for it to suit the various local bus supply strategies for Australia.
“MAN designed the E–chassis with low total cost of ownership in mind,” Geaboc says. “It means this product is less labour and parts demanding than a conventional city bus or coach. With the Lion’s chassis E LF, we’re in a position to make the transition to electric technology straightforward.”
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Penske Australia & New Zealand on-highway executive general manager Craig Lee says the new release is an exciting development for an Australian industry that has been an early adopter of low emission technology.
“It’s exciting to have a new bus at the Expo that was identified by the market and OEMs as a demand,” Lee told ABC. “It’s fantastic for our customers to see a chassis fresh off the boat before it goes through testing and volume production in the next two years.”
MAN also presented its low entry RC2 chassis, powered by the new MAN 330 horsepower D15 engine and equipped with a Custom Denning body. Surrounding this was MAN’s intercity/ coach RR8 D15 360 HP chassis fitted with an Irizar i6s coach body.
“It’s hard to achieve Euro 6e emission standard without using EGR technology in diesel engines and this proves once again the high calibre of MAN engineering applied in the new D15 diesel engine” Geaboc says.
Geaboc says both the 2.55-metre-wide chassis and the 2.5 metre option aren’t far away from being able to be delivered to Australian operators once testing is complete.
“We have serial production starting in early 2023 on our 2.55 metre chassis, while in early 2024 there’ll be our 2.5 metre option entering serial production at MAN in Europe,” Geaboc says. “We pride ourselves on always being at the front and meeting the ambitious emissions reduction goals, which includes sustainability targets of having at least half of the bus fleet produced by MAN for the city segment to be electric models. We want to show people what MAN can do.”