Flanders: De Lijn goes electric

Flanders has about 3,800 buses in De Lijn service. The 1,000th electric one entered service on 15 April 2026, and by law every bus must be zero-emission before 2035. Roughly 700 of those 1,000 e-buses belong to the 79 private operators who drive under contract for De Lijn; De Lijn itself had almost 300 and about 800 more on order. In 2025 De Lijn ordered 652 e-buses in one year with a one-off EUR 400 million from the Flemish Government, mostly from BYD, Iveco Bus, VDL and Daimler Buses. The buses are coming faster than the depots: 12 of De Lijn’s ~50 depots had chargers at the end of 2025, permits are contested, and late deliveries cost De Lijn low-emission-zone fines in Ghent. This page sets out what is published, with the date and the source beside every number, for an operator, a municipality or a maker’s European importer who needs the facts rather than the mood.

Headline numbers, October 2026

Fleet totals differ by source: De Lijn uses 2,250, 2,149 and “over 2,000” for its own buses, and 3,600 or 3,800 for the whole system. This page uses 3,800 because it is the figure the minister uses in 2026.

The policy: zero-emission before 2035

The rule comes from the Flemish coalition agreement 2019-2024 (p. 203), quoted in a government note of 10 July 2020: “We laten in de nieuwe aankoopprocedures enkel zero-emissiebussen toe. … Ten laatste vóór 2035 rijden alle bussen in heel Vlaanderen emissievrij. Ook de (private) onderaannemers van De Lijn worden hierbij maximaal betrokken.” In plain words: new purchase procedures admit only zero-emission buses, city centres were to be served emission-free by 2025, and every bus in Flanders must be emission-free before 2035, private operators included (Flemish Government, VR 2020 1007 MED.0237/1BIS, 10 Jul 2020). The 2025 city-centre goal was not met; De Lijn’s director-general told parliament in 2021 it was not feasible (Flemish Parliament, doc 986, 2021-2022). Every De Lijn bus order since December 2021 has been battery-electric.

The 2024-2029 government kept the date and added money. The policy note of minister Annick De Ridder says De Lijn “houdt vast aan de doelstelling om tegen 2035 volledig emissievrij openbaar vervoer aan te bieden” and announces “een extra grote investeringsimpuls van 400 miljoen euro bij het begin van deze regeerperiode voor nieuwe elektrische bussen en trams”: a one-off EUR 400 million for new electric buses and trams at the start of the term, to be ordered in the first half of 2025 within existing framework contracts (Flemish Parliament, doc 124, 15 Nov 2024). The minister confirmed the EUR 400 million on 29 April 2025, with 225 standard and 150 articulated e-buses before the summer and a further order in the autumn (De Ridder, 29 Apr 2025). The money was one-off: the 2026 budget falls back, and De Lijn must save EUR 35.5 million in 2026 (Flemish Parliament, 2 Dec 2025; De Lijn, 5 Jun 2026).

The public service contract (openbaredienstencontract, ODC) 2023-2027, approved on 2 July 2022, fixes the interim steps: Euro 3 and Euro 4 buses out by early 2025, 80 % of Euro 5 out by end-2027, an investment budget raised by EUR 120 million a year to over EUR 260 million, EUR 573 million of greening investments in 2023-2027, and the private operators’ share of kilometres rising from 48 % to 53 % (De Lijn, 2 Jul 2022). A new contract running to 2035 is being prepared. Above all of this sits the EU Clean Vehicles Directive (EU) 2019/1161: for Belgium 45 % of buses bought under public contracts in 2021-2025 and 65 % in 2026-2030 must be “clean”, half of them zero-emission (Stibbe, 19 Jul 2019, older). De Lijn’s own climate plan adds -46.2 % greenhouse gases by 2030 and climate-neutral infrastructure by 2045 (Flemish Parliament, 2 Apr 2026).

De Lijn’s own electric fleet, by maker

Battery-electric buses that De Lijn owns or has on firm order add up to roughly 970, in line with the government’s aim of about 1,000 own e-buses by 2029 (VRT NWS, 15 Apr 2026). The links go to this site’s specification sheets.

Why BYD: De Lijn said BYD could deliver in six months where competitors needed 18 to 24 (VRT NWS, 10 Dec 2025). The cybersecurity of Chinese buses was debated in the Flemish Parliament on 27 November 2025; De Lijn separates the vehicle network from telematics and requires UN regulation R156 in tenders (Flemish Parliament, 27 Nov 2025). What this means for an importer is on the makers page.

Framework contracts and orders, in order of date

De Lijn buys through framework contracts: a maker wins the right to supply up to a ceiling for several years, and De Lijn then “calls off” batches. Winning a framework does not guarantee a single bus (see Irizar).

No De Lijn bus order was found for September or October 2026.

Depots: the real bottleneck

De Lijn has about 50 own depots and the private operators about 90; all must be rebuilt for charging (De Lijn, strategy pages). At end-2025, 12 De Lijn depots had 419 charge points (De Lijn, 5 Jun 2026). The obstacles De Lijn lists are a full rebuild of each site, a medium-voltage cabin, fire-service and insurer demands (fire walls, retention of fire water), and permits that are contested: “Vergunningen krijgen is niet eenvoudig en wordt soms aangevochten” (VRT NWS, 15 Apr 2026). Since e-buses now manage 300-350 km a day, De Lijn charges overnight in the depot and has given up on fast charging at termini (Flemish Parliament, committee C248, 30 Apr 2026). A depot needs on average 10 MVA from the grid, about the connection of 1,000 households; Fluvius and De Lijn have worked under a framework agreement since 26 November 2020 and meet monthly (Fluvius, 26 Nov 2020, older; Flemish Parliament, 30 Apr 2026).

Who supplies the chargers

• SPIE-Ekoenergetyka (SPIE Belgium with Ekoenergetyka-Polska) is the main supplier: 252 chargers ordered in October 2022 for Kortrijk, Bruges, Genk, Deurne, Mechelen and Hasselt; co-holder of the 2023 framework for up to 1,600 points, under which Ekoenergetyka delivers nearly 300 points directly; a EUR 24.2 million order on top; about 38 MW installed and 40 MW in progress in Belgium (vendor figures) (SPIE Belgium, 25 Oct 2022; Ekoenergetyka, 18 Sep 2025). Sheets: Axon Side DLBS, Axon Easy S 180, Link Charger.
• ABB supplied the Leuven, Antwerp and Ghent pilots and is co-holder of the 2023 framework; which ABB product De Lijn received, and how many, is not published (De Lijn, 27 Nov 2023). Sheet: ABB HVC360.
• Heliox (now Siemens) took half of the December 2021 charging order (De Lijn, 2 Dec 2021, older). Sheet: Heliox Flex 180.
• Equans does the depot electrical design and medium-voltage installations, for example two 2 MVA transformers at Sint-Niklaas (Equans reference page, not reachable at the time of writing).
• Kempower appears at the private operators: Coach Partners (50 chargers for 35 MAN buses), Multiobus (32 chargers with battery storage, 2025), Ferry Cars (Kempower sheet).

The private operators and their subsidy

About half of the kilometres are driven by the 79 private operators (exploitanten or pachters): 69 million km in 2024 against 83 million by De Lijn itself, with the share moving towards them under the contracts that started on 1 July 2025 (Flemish Parliament, doc 513, 9 Oct 2025). They electrify faster than De Lijn: 277 e-buses (16 %) at end-2024, 588 (36 %) from 1 July 2025, over 700 (45 %) in April 2026 (Flemish Parliament, 2 Dec 2025; Flemish Parliament, 2 Apr 2026). Their new contracts contain a greening pace towards 100 % zero-emission in 2035, and they must pay for their own depots: “grid access is not always obvious” (same source).

The subsidy. On 2 March 2022 minister Lydia Peeters, De Lijn and the operators’ federation FBAA agreed, under the Flemish Climate Plan, that an operator receives up to EUR 21,700 a year per zero-emission bus that replaces a diesel bus within an existing contract, for three years; about 300 extra e-buses were expected (Sustainable Bus, Mar 2022; PV Magazine NL, 2 Mar 2022, older). Since 1 July 2025 the incentive sits inside the new contracts rather than as a separate scheme (Flemish Parliament, 2 Apr 2026). No decree text was found. The rules and money page has the wider picture.

Low-emission zones and the fines

Ghent and Antwerp have low-emission zones, and late e-bus deliveries put De Lijn on the wrong side of them. In the first half of 2025 De Lijn paid almost EUR 125,000 in about 800 fines in Ghent, three times the 2024 figure: “We betalen liever een boete dan dat we ritten moeten schrappen”, we would rather pay a fine than cancel trips (VRT NWS, 29 Oct 2025). At end-2025, 56 Euro 3 diesel buses still ran from depots serving the two zones; about 90 % of the fines come from Ghent; the Flemish Government decided in November 2025 to withdraw the tightening of the zones planned for 2026 (Flemish Parliament, 2 Apr 2026). Delay penalties are charged to the suppliers but do not cover the fines.

The builders left in Flanders

Van Hool is gone as a bus builder. The Koningshooikt (Lier) company filed for bankruptcy on 5 April 2024; about 2,400 people lost their jobs; VDL Groep and Schmitz Cargobull bought the assets and VDL kept about 250 jobs in Koningshooikt for parts, after-sales and development, with bus assembly moving to VDL’s plants and the coach plant in North Macedonia (VRT NWS, 11 Jun 2024; VRT NWS, 7 Apr 2026). The 30 ha site was auctioned in June 2026 for EUR 21.5 million (the Flemish Government bid EUR 20 million and lost) and resold in July 2026 to the Dutch contractor Mourik (VRT NWS, 19 Jun 2026; VRT NWS, 6 Jul 2026). The 36 A12 LF E of 2023-24 were its last city buses for De Lijn.

VDL Bus Roeselare (the former Jonckheere) is the only city-bus plant left in Belgium. The new factory at Krommebeekpark opened on 10 April 2024: a 27,000 m² hall on a 77,000 m² site, capacity about 800 buses a year, building the new-generation Citea (VDL Groep, 10 Apr 2024). De Lijn’s 24 Citea LF-122, 17 trambuses and 50 Citea LF-181 are built there. At the opening VDL’s bus chief asked for “een eerlijke wedstrijd, een wedstrijd met dezelfde spelregels”, a fair contest on the same rules, aimed at Chinese builders; the BYD orders of 2024 and 2025 drew the same criticism in the Flemish Parliament (VRT NWS, 10 Dec 2025). Yes-EU is the Belgian dealer of CRRC and Yutong and supplied De Lijn’s 13 midi buses (Sustainable Bus, 14 Oct 2024).

Risks and incidents, 2025-2026

• 86 Iveco E-Way articulated buses withdrawn on 28 May 2026 after drive failures in Bruges, Ghent, Sint-Niklaas, Antwerp, Leuven, Tielt-Winge and Hasselt. Cause: cables not fastened firmly enough, loosening with vibration. The minister expected all 86 back on 12 June 2026 and said the lessons go into new tenders (Brussels Times, 28 May 2026; Flemish Parliament, committee C303, 11 Jun 2026).
• Delivery times. “After an order it takes 15 to 18 months” (minister, VRT NWS, 15 Apr 2026); the gap kept old diesels in the low-emission zones.
• Permits. The Ghent Wissenhage depot permit was annulled in October 2025; the minister expects urban depots to be slower than rural ones (Flemish Parliament, 30 Apr 2026).
• Money. The EUR 400 million was once; De Lijn’s subsidy fell by EUR 27.5 million in 2025 and EUR 35.5 million of savings are imposed for 2026 (De Lijn, 5 Jun 2026). The operators’ federation says an e-bus still costs about twice a diesel bus to buy (newmobility.news, 1 Jul 2025).
• Politics. Opposition figures of “almost EUR 350 million spent, under 4 % electric” circulate again in October 2026; they are a March 2025 snapshot, overtaken by the 2025-26 deliveries (Vlaams Belang, Dec 2025).
• Old technology. Three 2013 Van Hool buses with inductive charging stood idle in Bruges for two years because the charging system was no longer supported (Focus-WTV, 21 Nov 2024): a warning for any buyer of a charging standard with one supplier.

What this page could not confirm

• The exact number of e-buses De Lijn itself runs today; the last exact count is 179 of 2,149 vehicles (14 Nov 2025), then “almost 300” (15 Apr 2026). A vendor claim of “over 500” contradicts De Lijn and is not used.
• Whether the 17 VDL trambuses carry passengers and whether the Hasselt-Maasmechelen trambus service started on 1 July 2026.
• Any call-off under the Irizar framework.
• The exact size and variant of the first Mercedes-Benz eCitaro call-off (“over 80”).
• A reported EUR 30,400 a year for articulated e-buses in the 2022 operator subsidy, and the decree behind that subsidy.
• Per-maker e-bus counts at Keolis Belgium; the Yutong and Irizar volumes at Hansea.
• The model names CRRC TEG6853 and BYD K9UD, which rest on a user-edited fleet list and an image file name.
• Any De Lijn bus order placed in September or October 2026.
• Whether all 86 Iveco buses did return on 12 June 2026.
• The Equans figures (138 depots, 3,430 e-buses, two 2 MVA transformers at Sint-Niklaas), read from search snippets because the pages would not open.
• Whether “Mortsel” and “Deurne Luchthaven” are one depot or two; this page treats them as one site.

Research closed 28 October 2026. Corrections through the contact page.