Gaussin has acquired a worldwide license (outside France) from Bluebus, a Bolloré Group subsidiary, for its 6-meter LMP bus. The vehicle will be renamed Cit-e and manufactured through Gaussin’s current and future network of licensees.

The royalty-bearing license is valid for 20 years and will allow Gaussin to provide the advantage of the localization model to its network of licensees to penetrate the different markets with a strong focus on the Middle East, where the demand and the adoption of smart and clean mobility systems is growing quickly.

According to a recent study by Qualiket Reasearch, the cumulative sales of electric buses in the Middle East will reach €3 billion between 2022 and 2027 with a CAGR of more than 9% driven by new forms of smart mobility, the development of smart cities and the integration of clean and smart mobility as a pillar of economic and environmental development.

Cit-e is a transport solution for private or public transport applications of the 1st and last mile focused on safety, performance and respect of the environment. Marketed mainly in France since 2010, it is now in operation with more than 60 cities. With capacity for 22 passengers, Cit-e has 90 kWh of batteries and can run up to 50 km/h.

Cit-e is equipped with LMP (Lithium Metal Polymer) batteries from Blue Solutions, the Bolloré Group's subsidiary specialized in batteries. Produced by Blue Solutions in its French and Canadian factories, the LMP batteries are the result of a unique all-solid lithium-metal technology that gives them a very high level of safety, without thermal runaway, and the ability to withstand outside temperatures of up to 65 °C without cooling.

Their composition, free of cobalt and nickel, guarantees the independence of the technology from materials that are increasingly criticized from a social and environmental point of view. At the end of their life, all components will be recycled or recovered.

Cit-e has a significant competitive advantage on OPEX (operating costs) due to the consumption savings linked to the absence of a cooling system for the LMP batteries, to the large capacity of the batteries, and to its capacity of 22 passengers. The cost per passenger per km is particularly low.

Cit-e Autonomous. Gaussin has deployed its autonomous driving vehicles in different sites around the world, gaining valuable experience in different environments leveraging decades of domain experience to identify better ways of delivering value to our customers.

Cit-e platform will be available in an autonomous version—“Cit-e Autonomous”—and will be equipped with Gaussin Virtual Driver, Gaussin’s in-house autonomous driving stack that includes components to enable fully autonomous operations in mixed traffic within gated areas.

Gaussin is an engineering company that designs, assembles and sells innovative products and services in the transport and logistics fields. Its know-how encompasses cargo and passenger transport, autonomous technologies allowing for self-driving solutions such as Automotive Guided Vehicles, and the integration all types of batteries, electric and hydrogen fuel cells in particular.

With more than 50,000 vehicles worldwide, GAUSSIN enjoys a strong reputation in four fast-expanding markets: port terminals, airports, logistics and people mobility.