New electric buses coming to South Africa – and they will be locally built

South African company Paruk Group, which operates a fleet of around 2,000 buses, has signed a contract with MAN Truck and Bus for an order of 100 new electric buses for South Africa in 2026 and 2027.

This is after Paruk Group signed a letter of intent to purchase the 100 electric buses earlier this year.

According to MAN, both the chassis and body of the 100 buses will be produced in South Africa.

The electric high-floor chassis’s will be manufactured at MAN’s assembly plant in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, while the bodies will be produced at its plant in Olifantsfontein, Gauteng.

“Thanks to manufacturing in South Africa, we can ensure that the eBuses perfectly meet the needs of transport companies and can also be integrated into existing processes in the best possible way,” said Barbaros Oktay, Head of Bus at MAN Truck and Bus.

“We are delighted to be setting new standards for electric mobility on the African continent together with the Paruk Group.”

The vehicles are Lion’s Explorer E electric buses, based on the Lion’s Chassis E. They are 12 metres in length, with a total installed capacity of 320kWh.

This is provided by four 80kWh battery packs built on NMC (lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt) technology, located under the floor between the axles.

Power is driven to the wheels by a 240kW motor, while the bus has a range of around 350 kilometres.

The first Lion’s Explorer E bus was delivered to Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS) in Cape Town by MAN in 2023, as a viability test. This was the first electric city bus to be developed and built in South Africa.

“We are proud to not only bring the first MAN eBuses on the African roads, but to be the first manufacturer, across both passenger and commercial vehicles, in the South African automotive industry to localize the production of an electric vehicle,” says Jan Aichinger, Managing Director of MAN Truck and Bus South Africa.