"The objective of the ongoing tender is to make a public call, summoning interested parties to submit proposals so that the Chilean Energy Sustainability Agency hires consulting services for the delivery of tools to public transport bus operators in regions that allow moving towards electromobility”, says the first paragraph of the published specifications, of the call that will end at the end of September 2022.
Outside of Santiago there are tenders to incorporate electric buses in different cities of Chile. However, some public transport operators outside the main cities still have economic, logistical and technical difficulties in making the leap to zero-emission mobility.
It should be noted that according to the National Mobility Strategy document, all public transport in Chile must be fully electric by 2040.
The scope of the initiative includes the following urban areas: Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, Calama, Copiapó, Vallenar, La Serena-Coquimbo, Greater Valparaíso, Melipilla, San Fernando, Rancagua, Talca, Curicó, Linares, Greater Concepción, Chillán, Greater Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Osorno, Coyhaique and Punta Arenas.
The total budget available for the current contest is the sum of one hundred and two million Chilean pesos including taxes (about USD 110,000) which will be financed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) from Germany.
Among the evaluation criteria, compliance with the requirements will have a valuation of 2%, the price will mean 20%, and the technical quality of the goods and services weights the highest degree with 78%.
It is important to note that the urban fleet of buses that make up the total of the regions of the Austral country is 10,478 units, and they work assigned to 142 public transport operators.
"The first experiences outside the Metropolitan Region have shown that it is necessary to accompany and deliver tools to bus operators so that they can present competitive offers in the tenders", it is argued in the technical bases.
One of the ailments of the traditional bus operators in Chile, and which motivated the establishment of this contest, is their lack of knowledge in the operation of electric buses, given that their financial, technical and functional model are far from the traditional scenario established for vehicles powered by thermal engines (mainly Diesel).