Fortaco Group is among the pioneers to carry out the revolution in public transportation. The company is manufacturing a new type of fast-charging electric bus for Linkker.

The first batch of electric buses manufactured by Fortaco Group were delivered to Linkker this summer. The buses are manufactured at Fortaco Sastamala Business Site. Fortaco Group is one of Europe’s largest subcontractors in heavy equipment manufacturing.

“This is a significant project, and we believe it’s only the beginning. The future potential of the electric bus market in Europe is around 5,000 vehicles by the year 2020,” says Jussi Malmi, Senior Vice President, Business Unit Assembly, Fortaco Group.

The cooperation with Linkker is an example of Fortaco’s comprehensive service portfolio. Fortaco is responsible for the project management, sourcing, material logistics and manufacturing of the buses, as well as quality and testing. Linkker is responsible for the sales and marketing of the innovative system they have developed and launched. Linkker’s background is in extensive R&D work carried out at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

Light weight, quiet and emission-free

Malmi points out that Fortaco’s competitive advantage lies especially in its ability to handle the entire sourcing process of the large-scale projects. Fortaco also possesses solid and versatile knowhow in the assembly of heavy machinery. “Regarding this project, special skills were required in handling the chassis, made of aluminium. In addition, the bus interior includes an unusually large amount of parts that need to be glued,” Malmi says.

An extremely light chassis structure, combined with a fast charging system for batteries developed by Linkker, makes electric city buses very competitive. Since January 2016, Helsinki Regional Transport has tested two buses with good results. An electric bus can operate with the same frequency as the diesel-powered vehicle, but without the vibration and noise of a traditional bus. The experience is more pleasant to the passengers and improves the driver’s working conditions. And most importantly, the city bus operates with zero emissions.

“We are pleased to incorporate our expertise and broad sourcing network into such a partnership. Thisis exactly the kind of project that responses to current needs: it creates work opportunities in Finland and opens promising export opportunities for environmentally friendly technology,” Malmi says.

Further information

Jussi Malmi
Senior Vice President, Business Unit Assembly
+358 45 146 8355