10 cities of Ukraine purchase electric vehicles for a total of more than UAH 4.5 billion

NGO Vision Zero monitored the information of tender platforms on the procurement of electric transport rolling stock in June-August 2023.

In total, 10 announced procurements for 166 units of rolling stock and a total amount of about UAH 4.5 billion were identified, according to the Association of Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine.

Four procurements have already been completed, one aborted, and five are still ongoing. Out of 10 tenders, 6 are held within the framework of loan projects with the international financial organizations EIB and EBRD.

Procurement was announced by 10 cities: Chernivtsi, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Kamianske, Ternopil, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Khmelnytskyi, and Ivano-Frankivsk. 

The largest cities are purchasing new trolleybuses and trams. Several procurements concern used trolleybus rolling stock and new battery buses.

The largest procurement is the announcement by Chernivtsi city to purchase 50 trolleybuses with credit funds from the European Investment Bank.

"The active work of cities to upgrade rolling stock is a positive development, even in times of war. First of all, most of these are external financial resources coming to Ukraine. Ukrainian producers win most of the tenders, which allows them to support the economy, maintain the efficiency of machine-building enterprises, retain staff, and pay taxes and fees. Secondly, rolling stock in many cities is really outdated and does not meet accessibility requirements - it does not have a low floor, which is extremely important, especially now. Thirdly, modern rolling stock has higher energy efficiency than the outdated trams and trolleybuses it will replace. This will mean savings for local budgets and reduced energy consumption from the energy grid. And of course, it will have a positive impact on air quality and public health - especially when the new vehicles replace old diesel buses. All of these issues have become even more important in times of war" — comments Viktor Zagreba, Chairman of the Board of the NGO "Vision Zero".

According to the NGO Vision Zero, Ukraine is already one of the countries in Europe with the largest number of electric public transport systems. As of 2021, 41 trolleybus systems and 18 tram systems were operating in Ukrainian cities.

The list of electric public transport procurement by Ukrainian cities can be found below. Note that this list may not be exhaustive and some procurements were not included in our monitoring.