Azhitechs, an Iranian commercial vehicle producer and the official representative of Belarus’s Maz Trucks, is set to deliver 400 CNG-powered city buses to Tehran and Tabriz municipalities.
According to Ramin Imani, Azhitech’s production manager, the firm will deliver 200 units of Maz to each municipality by the end of the current fiscal (March 2018), local automotive website Persian Khodro reported.
The busses are billed as eco-friendly by the manufacturer and supposedly meet Euro6 emission standards. It comes with a 7.6 –liter, 301-hp CNG-based Mercedes Benz engine partnered with a six-speed automatic transmission.
European emission standards define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in the EU. The emission standards are defined in a series of European Union directives staging the progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.
The model is a low-floor bus which has a ramp for wheelchair users. Furthermore, its design incorporates a 1,300qm CNG tank, which will be enough for a 600-km urban run. The company is yet to announce the price.
Air pollution in most cities has reached dangerous levels with the government and affiliated bodies trying a variety of ways to improve air quality. A declared policy is to encourage automakers to invest in hybrid and eco-friendly vehicles.
Since 2015, when the first hybrid CNG buses joined the Tehran public transportation fleet, the government has increased efforts to promote “green buses” and “eco-friendly taxis” across urban areas in the country.
Earlier this year, Karmania, a local carmaker and representative of China’s BYD, delivered its first all-electric bus to Shiraz Municipality for a test run. The vehicle is rumored to be a substitute for diesel and even CNG buses in the bigger cities.
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