Solaris Bus & Coach has delivered two Urbino 12 electric buses along with suitable charging equipment operator NVG Omnibus-Betriebsgesellschaft in the German city of Würzburg, the the first electric vehicles for this operator. Solaris will supply two stationary chargers with a maximum power of 150 kW and a mobile charger of 50 kW.
“The fact that operator NVG Omnibus-Betriebs-GmbH has decided to make its first electric buses of Solaris design means a lot to us. We are extremely happy that we have been given the opportunity to supply both buses and the whole charging infrastructure to Würzburg, and that we can be part of the process of developing zero-emission transport also among private carriers on the European market”, states Rolf Oneis, Director of Sales at Solaris Deutschland GmbH. The buses will be driven by two integrated traction motors boasting a power of 125 kW each, supplied by a set of Solaris High Energy batteries with a total capacity of 300 kWh, recharged using a classic plug-in system.
Featuring a dual door arrangement and a passenger counting system, the electric vehicles will have a capacity of 70 passengers, including 38 seated.
The buses for Würzburg will be fitted with a monitoring system, internal LED lighting, a passenger information system, air-conditioning, USB chargers and an electric heating system. NVG has also opted to specify the remote diagnostics system eSConnect, designed for operators of Solaris zero-emission vehicles to enable the management and optimal use of an electric bus fleet. It provides tracking data on the location of the bus fleet at given times, including the updated battery status, as well as allowing the remote detection of potential faults reported by the vehicle on the driver’s dashboard. The data collected by the app are presented in a visually appealing form of charts and graphs.
The supplied buses also feature a system to control the heating and the air-conditioning systems, including thermal pre-conditioning launched via the eSConnect system. Used during the bus charging, it allows optimised consumption of battery power during the journey and makes it possible to increase the range of the vehicle on a single charge.
Solaris says that the turn towards people-friendly and environmentally-friendly urban transport is a noticeable trend across Europe, and the undeniable advantages of electric buses, such as low-noise and smooth driving, the lack of pollutant exhaust emissions, constitute a strong incentive for an ever increasing number of transport operators. So far the Polish manufacturer has delivered or secured orders for nearly 1000 electric buses, which can be found on the streets of 80 cities in 18 countries: In Germany alone, Solaris has supplied or has orders for over 200 electric buses.
