Members of the international jury for selecting the bus of the year voted MAN Lion’s City E as the winner for the International Bus of the Year 2023.
The Lion’s City E is “Bus of the Year 2023”
This year it was the turn of city buses, and the criteria required that they are electrically driven. Five candidates electric city buses took part in the test, Higer Azure, Karsan eATA, MAN Lion’s City E, Mercedes-Benz eCitaro and Volvo BZL Electric with body from MCV. After several days of intensive checks, test drives, measurements, and expert discussion, the jury voted for the winner, the international bus of the year 2023 is the MAN Lion’s City E.
The Bavarian city bus is still among the newer ones on the market, which is evident both in its modern exterior and in the passenger compartment, which is considered one of the best. The Germans have managed to combine very well all the forms of drive that they offer, without the external appearance suffering because of this, the bus is visually refined in every version. Even when looking at the driver’s workplace, it deserves an excellent rating, the materials used are of good quality, the driver can adjust the steering wheel well along with the adjustable dashboard, and the gauges are also very clear and large.
MAN is equipped with six battery packs, all of them are mounted on the roof of the bus, and with 480 kilowatts, it offered the highest capacity of all the tested buses. As a result, tests show that it is possible to drive more than five hundred kilometres with it without intermediate charging, and thus it can provide the daily needs of most carriers. For batteries, they offer two usage strategies, one is adapted to the greatest possible range, and the other is adapted to achieve the longest possible battery life.
Noise measurements in the passenger compartment showed that the MAN was the quietest when driving, and the engineers managed to set the suspension very well so that the mass of the batteries, which are all mounted on the roof, is not felt while driving. The adjustment of the electric motor is also good, the acceleration is smooth and comfortable for the passengers, and the driver can adjust the regeneration levels with the steering wheel lever.
