Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe (Municipal Bus Company) in Warsaw has just leased an 18-meter electric bus – the new Solaris Urbino 18 electric. This is the first vehicle of its kind in the capital and one of the first articulated electric buses in Europe.
– Next year, we want to order 130 articulated electric buses along with the accompanying infrastructure. The value of this project will exceed PLN 400 million, of which PLN 180 million will be co-financed by the European Union. In three years, diesel-powered buses will finally disappear from the Royal Route, and only quiet and ecological electric vehicles will run along Krakowskie Przedmieście and Nowy Świat – says Renata Kaznowska, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw.
The batteries in the articulated “dachshund” can be charged in two ways: both via a plug-in connector and using a pantograph. The bus is extremely quiet and emits no exhaust fumes. It is equipped with air conditioning, electronic passenger information, monitoring, and fire protection systems. The vehicle is powered by two electric motors integrated with the drive axle, each with a power of 120 kW, and has high-capacity Solaris High Energy batteries that allow for a range of over 200 kilometers on a single charge.
– The lease and testing of this vehicle are a prelude to the tender we want to announce as early as the beginning of 2018. And the vehicles produced for Warsaw will arrive in two batches – 60 in 2019 and 70 in 2020 – adds Jan Kuźmiński, President of Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe.
The fourth-generation Solaris Urbino 18 electric will begin serving passengers on line 175 in the coming days, and eventually, after the charger at Konwiktorska Street is launched, it will run on line 503. Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe already has many years of experience in operating electric buses. The first battery-powered vehicles were tested five years ago, and in 2015, the first series of ten electric buses was ordered. Solaris Urbino 12 electric buses currently serve line 222, which runs largely through the Royal Route. Until July of this year, the vehicles were charged exclusively via a plug-in, which allowed them to travel about 130-150 kilometers. Currently, after the launch of the street charger at the Spartańska loop, they can already recharge their batteries using a pantograph and cover much longer distances. Their two-year operation has shown that they are very energy-efficient – the fuel cost is several times lower than that of diesel engines, and the buses perform excellently during winter. In the spring of 2018, another batch of electric buses will arrive in Warsaw. These will be ten fourth-generation Solaris Urbino 12 electric buses, which will be directed to serve lines on the Royal Route.
– The decision to purchase more zero-emission buses and the commitment to the development of ecological public transport is a confirmation of Warsaw’s involvement in this pan-European and global trend in public transport. I am glad that the residents of the capital will have the opportunity to travel on an electric bus model that is one of the most modern solutions on the e-mobility market in Europe and is based mostly on components developed in Poland, such as batteries from Impact or the drive system from Medcom. We can also find similar vehicles in Poland in Krakow and Jaworzno, as well as abroad in Barcelona and Hamburg – says Zbigniew Palenica, Vice President of the Management Board of Solaris Bus & Coach S.A.
All Solaris electric buses delivered to Warsaw are charged using chargers from the Polish company Ekoenergetyka. These are devices with a plug-in connector at the “Woronicza” depot and a column (pantograph) charger at Spartańska Street. Public transport plays a key role in the capital’s transport system and is the most popular means of transport chosen by Varsovians – buses, trains, the metro, and trams carry over 1.1 billion passengers annually. Solaris Bus & Coach has been setting trends in the field of electromobility for years, including by introducing zero-emission vehicles to the domestic market. Since the beginning of the company’s operations, over 2,000 electric-powered vehicles have been produced. This jointly chosen direction will certainly bring changes that will allow for the shaping of a much better and more human-friendly urban infrastructure.