Île-de-France Mobilités and Kéolis will test the new Alstom-NTL electric bus on the Versailles-Vélizy network

As part of the Grand Paris des Buses, Valérie Pécresse, President of Île-de-France Mobilités (formerly STIF) and President of the Île-de-France Region, has decided to develop a clean bus network by setting the objective that 30% of the buses and coaches in the Île-de-France fleet will be clean vehicles by 2020, and 100% by 2025 in the most polluted dense areas (hybrids, all-electric or bio-NGV). To achieve this ambitious goal, Île-de-France Mobilités is experimenting with operators and manufacturers on innovative technological solutions that can be deployed on a larger scale in the coming years.

Electric bus: a new deployment on line 23 of the Versailles-Vélizy bus network

Île-de-France Mobilités has therefore decided to deploy on line 23 of the Versailles-Vélizy bus network, which connects Versailles Europe and Vélizy 2, the new 100% electric mobility solution called Aptis designed by Alstom and its subsidiary NTL.

This deployment is based on a partnership between Île-de-France Mobilités, the Versailles Grand Parc inter-municipal authority and the KEOLIS group, operator of the Versailles-Vélizy network.

The first vehicle will join the Versailles-Vélizy network in May 2017, then, after a series of tests, will be put into commercial service on line 23 for a period of one year from September 2017.

Line 23 of the Vélizy network carries 1,300 passengers per day, and provides a direct link between the business and commercial centre of Vélizy 2 and the city centre of Versailles (Versailles Europe). This 13 km line passes through the heart of the residential districts of Vélizy and takes the Avenue de Paris which leads to the Palace of Versailles and the City Hall.

For a year, Île-de-France Mobilités and KEOLIS have been testing the "full autonomy" technology of charging at the depot during the night and will evaluate the operation of ALSTOM's electrical technology in real operating conditions (the electricity consumption of the bus and its recharging, the behavior of the batteries and the operation of the power supply at the depot) but also the maintenance on the mechanical and electrical aspects and finally the economic model and operating costs of the Vehicle. Commercial traffic on this 100% electric line was launched in September 2017.

It was also an opportunity to inaugurate the new new generation bus depot in Vélizy-Villacoublay, which will be able to maintain both existing diesel vehicles and new-generation vehicles (hybrid and then electric).

This deployment is part of the deliberation of 6 December 2016 on the Grand Paris des Buses adopted by the Île-de-France Mobilités Council and the energy transition strategy that the KEOLIS group is deploying by proposing innovative solutions to the organising authorities.