Press releases

2021/03/09

THE CAF GROUP SECURES AN IMPORTANT CONTRACT FOR THE SUPPLY OF 123 ELECTRIC BUSES IN ROMANIA

In the backdrop of a public tender issued by the Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration of Romania, the CAF Group subsidiary, Solaris, has been awarded with the supply of 123 e-buses to be delivered to seven Romanian towns. The total value of the contract amounts to circa €65 million. 

In specific terms, Solaris will supply 12 metre long Urbino electric buses for the Romanian towns of Iasi, Sibiu, Sighetu Marmatiei, Suceava, Târgu Mures and Pitesti. The contract contemplates varying time frames for these units depending on each place of delivery. However all orders should be completed by late 2022.

In addition to the vehicles themselves, the contract contemplates also the supply of the charging infrastructure required for the units. Specifically, 123 socket charges of 40kW will be supplied, as well as 36 pantograph chargers of 300 kW.

This tender was one of the most important tenders for electric buses, considering its volume, among the public procurement processes currently in progress in Europe. This combines with other important contracts for this type of vehicles awarded to Solaris in the last few months. It is worth of mention the delivery of 130 Solaris Urbino 18 articulated buses for the Warsaw operator, MZA Warszawa, 90 Urbino 12 electric buses for the operator Berliner Verkehrsbetrieb in Berlin, or the supply of 140 electric buses, also Urbino 12 model, for ATM Milan in Italy.

Solaris closes FY2020 as the European leader in the European market of electric buses

The CAF Group affiliate closed FY2020 as the largest manufacturer of electric buses in Europe with a 20% market share. In 2020, the company supplied a total of 457 electric buses, 12 and 18 metres long, which amounts to a number of units which triples deliveries made the previous year.

In year 2020, when most companies struggled against a very complex background, Solaris managed to achieve record high sales for both yearly turnover and the number of vehicles, with 1560 units sold. Worth of note is the significant growth of low and zero emission buses. Thus, the contribution to orders in hand of this type of vehicles, which include hybrid vehicles, e-buses and trolleybuses, has experienced solid growth in the last few years, and whilst this segmented amounted to 29% of all sold vehicles in 2018, this share rose to 40% in 2019. The tendency continued also last year when the number of vehicles driven by alternative energies reached 44% of sales, which is consistent with the strategy implemented by the CAF Group in this field in the last few years.