Cairo's public transportation network to introduce 70 locally-made electric buses

CAIRO – 10 July 2022: Cairo Municipal Authority and the Public Transportation Authority joined forces to purchase 70 electric MCV C120 buses in a deal worth LE323 million.  

Those electric buses will carry the name "Setibus," consisting of 49 seats in addition to standing spaces that are sufficient to accommodate 24 passengers. The maximum speed is 70 kilometer/hour, and the share of the local component is 60 percent.

The air-conditioned bus, which can cross a distance of 300-350 kilometers per charge, will also have WIFI and USB sockets. The body will be 100-percent Egyptian made, and will be made of corrosion-resistant steel.

In tandem, Egypt will be introducing electric buses in the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, which will be hosting COP 27 on November 7-18. The Ministry of Environment had announced earlier in July that all cars and buses in Sharm El Sheikh would be substituted with electric vehicles, and that more than 100 charging points would be introduced to serve such vehicles.

The Ministry of State for Military Production announced in June 2021 finishing the production of the first locally made electric bus in collaboration with Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles Co. (MCV), a private firm that has been producing buses for 25 years.

Minister Mohamed Ahmed Morsi clarified that the design was made by Egyptian engineers, and that the exterior and interior of the skeleton were manufactured in Egyptian factories. Those include windows, tires, chairs, fibers, and the metal body.

It is noted that 2,262 gas-powered buses are being substituted for diesel-powered ones in Cairo and Alexandria. The value of the budget allocated to the plan is LE1.2 billion.