Details provided by EMT Valencia on the commissioning of its latest buses remain somewhat unclear. In a LinkedIn post, the public transport operator refers to 26 new battery-electric buses, while the City of Valencia’s website mentions the addition of 26 electric and hybrid buses. EMT Valencia has not disclosed the manufacturers or models involved, although a press image shows newly delivered MAN Lion’s City E buses in the standard 12-metre configuration.
According to Valencia’s mayor, María José Catalá, the vehicles form part of a broader investment programme worth €118 million aimed at renewing and expanding the city’s bus fleet by 2027. The plan covers the procurement of 222 new buses intended to increase fleet size while reducing emissions.
The 26 vehicles now entering service are therefore only a small portion of the wider procurement programme. The initiative also includes 31 articulated hybrid buses that have already been delivered and are currently in operation. These vehicles appear to be linked to a tender issued in 2023.
The overall budget referenced by the mayor likely also covers a further tender launched in 2025. In that procurement process, MAN, Iveco and Irizar e-mobility were selected to supply a total of 161 additional hybrid and battery-electric buses for the municipal fleet.
In July 2025, MAN announced it had secured an order for 57 all-electric Lion’s City 12 E buses and 27 hybrid articulated buses, worth approximately 50 million euros, as part of this tender for 161 buses. These are scheduled for phased delivery to the Spanish coastal city starting in late 2026.
The buses now delivered, therefore, do not appear to be part of last year’s tender but rather part of a procurement process already initiated in 2023.