Press releases

2020/10/15

THE CAF GROUP SUBSIDIARY SOLARIS WILL SUPPLY TALLINN WITH AN ADDITIONAL 100 NATURAL GAS BUSES

The city of Tallinn has decided to exercise the extension option provided for in the contract awarded to Solaris last year. On this occasion, the new order comprises 50 Solaris Urbino 12 CNG buses and 50 Solaris Urbino 18 CNG articulated buses, all to be delivered over the course of 2021. This extension amounts to approximately €28 million.

At the end of 2019, Solaris was awarded the supply of 60 Urbino 12 buses and 40 articulated vehicles for Tallinn city, all of which are powered by compressed natural gas (CNG). As a result of this contract, the CAF Group manufacturer has been supplying buses to the company Tallin Linnatranspordi AS (TLT) over the past few months. Specifically, 80 of these have been delivered to date, with the remaining 20 units scheduled to be delivered by the end of the year.

Unlike the first batch under this contract, the new buses will be fitted with a closed driver cab with a separate entrance, which is one of the many solutions the bus manufacturer now offers as one of its "anti-coronavirus" options. Also, both the 12-metre and 18-metre versions will be equipped with a 239 kW engine adapted for the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel. This engine will include a cold-start function which facilitates starting the engine at very low outside temperatures, something that is common in the Baltic capital.

As a result, Estonia has become the fourteenth European country with Solaris vehicles that run on compressed natural gas, a continent where over 1,300 low-emission Urbino CNG buses have been delivered and are already operating in various cities in Poland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Holland, Spain, France and Italy, among others.

CONTRACTS FOR THE SUPPLY OF 37 ELECTRIC BUSES IN POLAND

In addition to this, the Polish cities of Sosnowiec, Radom, Toru? and Szczecin have decided to expand their Solaris bus fleets, entering into new contracts for the CAF Group to supply electric buses. The total volume of these contracts exceeds €30 million, which confirms that these cities are committed to continue pursuing a transport policy in line with the best citizen and environmentally-friendly practices.

Firstly, Sosnowiec will receive 14 Solaris Urbino electric buses, 9 of which will be 12m long and the other 5 articulated vehicles 18m long, including with three pantograph chargers and eight chargers to plug in the vehicles.

In the case of Radom, Solaris has entered into a contract for the supply of 9 Solaris Urbino 12 electric units which will include the relevant charging infrastructure. The new units are scheduled for delivery in mid 2021, and will add to the ten Solaris electric buses already running in this Polish city with over 200,000 inhabitants.

The beautiful medieval city of Toru? has also purchased 6 Solaris Urbino 12 electric buses with the option to extend the order by an additional two buses. These vehicles will join the more than 120 Solaris vehicles already providing public transport services in the city.

Finally, Solaris has reached an agreement to supply eight Urbino 18 electric articulated buses for Szczecin. Aside from their outstanding features shared with ones mentioned above such as passenger comfort and safety equipment, these vehicles will also be equipped with eSConnect software. This is Solaris' fleet management system which is designed to optimise bus operation and service by means of (amongst others) a real-time bus fleet monitoring system.

The Solaris Urbino electric buses are modern vehicles equipped with cutting-edge systems, and they excel in how extremely quiet they are and the fact they do not produce toxic emissions. This is why the number of electric buses in Poland has grown rapidly over recent years, positioning the country as the fifth in the European Union in terms of the number of electric buses running in its cities.