Scania, Nobina add 27 biogas buses for southern Sweden routes

Scania on June 18 said Nobina will add 27 biogas buses to Skånetrafiken service on the Malmö-Lund/Kristianstad routes. The order uses the Scania Irizar i4, bodybuilt by Irizar, and Scania said it marks that model’s premiere in Swedish public transport. The buses were specified for longer journeys, with coach seating, a toilet and other interior options.

The deployment extends an existing fleet of Scania biogas buses already operating for Skånetrafiken and keeps a renewable-fuel platform in place for intercity work. Scania said biogas is produced from waste products and that a large share of Sweden’s compressed biogas is made locally, a supply pattern that supports fuel security and keeps more value in the domestic chain. For routes that need sustained range, established fueling and conventional maintenance routines, biogas remains a practical fit where a full battery-electric redesign is not the only option.

Sweden’s biogas market gives the contract a deeper industrial base. Swedish biogas organizations said total biogas use in Sweden reached just over 4.1 TWh in 2024, production rose 6 percent to 2.4 TWh, and biogas plants produced 3.7 million tons of digestate, with 92 percent used as fertilizer. That supply backdrop helps explain why operators and manufacturers continue to treat biogas as a live procurement choice rather than a transitional stopgap.

For Nobina, the purchase adds a lower-noise, lower-emissions bus to a visible part of its network. The company says it is the Nordic region’s largest public transport operator, with 15,000 employees across four countries and about one million people traveling with it every day. The new buses also fit its wider focus on sustainable public transport in both cities and rural areas, where route length and operating profile can make biomethane more competitive than other options.

Delivery will run in collaboration with LECAB Lastbilar AB, Irizar’s Swedish representative. For Scania and Irizar, the order gives the i4 a Swedish public transport entry point while reinforcing a gas-bus strategy that still wins real fleet work in 2026, especially on corridors where operators already have the fueling and operating model in place.