14 electric Solaris buses arrive in Sosnowiec

On Thursday, 2 September, the headquarters of municipal operator Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacji Miejskiej in Sosnowiec saw the official hand-over of 14 new electric buses made by Solaris. Along with the vehicles the manufacturer has provided the requisite charging infrastructure. The newly supplied vehicles are the first buses in the city of Sosnowiec to sport the new metropolitan colours.

On the basis of an order received in August 2020, Solaris has supplied 14 electric buses to municipal operator PKM Sosnowiec: 9 Urbino 12 electric solo buses and 5 articulated Urbino 18 electric units. The delivery also included the charging infrastructure, i. e. three pantograph chargers (for fast charging during the day) and eight depot plug-in chargers (for charging overnight).

All vehicles boast cutting-edge Solaris High Energy batteries. Featuring fully automated air-conditioning of the whole vehicle, the comfortable bus interior will fit 86 passengers in the case of the Urbino 12 electric buses while the Urbino 18 electric units can carry 130 people. These zero-emission and extremely quiet e-buses feature modern solutions for passengers such as illuminated USB charging ports. Moreover, they are fitted with a whole range of amenities and measures to enhance safety. Carrying on their good practice, PKM Sosnowiec has once again opted to mount a breath alcohol ignition interlock device in its buses. The vehicles are also equipped with a passenger counting system and a closed driver’s cabin. Safety will be ensured by surveillance cameras monitoring the passenger compartment and the road in front of the vehicle, as well as devices monitoring the street while reversing and the pantograph when the batteries are being charged. The vehicles also feature a pre-conditioning system which allows for the automatic control of heating before a bus sets off on its daily route.

“The hand-over ceremony of 14 state-of-the-art electric buses and the requisite charging infrastructure, taking place today, is an event and a project of enormous importance for us. The investment plans of Sosnowiec, and those of the whole GZM Metropolis, are an excellent example of transitioning towards zero-emission public transport. Sosnowiec is thus following the trend of employing the best European solutions, which are resident- and environmentally friendly”, underlined Dariusz Michalak PhD. Eng., member of the Management Board of Solaris, responsible for Product Development and Production.

“Our company is a leader when it comes to new technologies. We were the first in our conurbation to operate a hybrid bus and subsequently the first to purchase an electric bus. The speed of the changes in PKM Sosnowiec may surprise people, and I hope that the new e-buses will be as good as those purchased from Solaris three years ago. These three electric buses have already covered almost a million kilometres in total!”, said Arkadiusz Chęciński, mayor of Sosnowiec.

The electric Solaris buses are the first in Sosnowiec to sport the new yellow metropolitan colours. The modern and zero-emission buses will join the fleet of the municipal operator, where three 12-metre electrically powered Solaris buses have been in use for three years now. PKM in Sosnowiec and Solaris have been collaborating for almost 20 years. So far Solaris has supplied almost 120 buses to the operator.

In the first photo, from the left: Arkadiusz Chęciński (Mayor of Sosnowiec), Małgorzata Gutowska (Director of the Metropolitan Transport Board), PhD. Eng. Dariusz Michalak (Board Memberd of Solaris Bus & Coach), Grzegorz Kwiatek (Board Member of GZM), Marcin Bazylak (Mayor of Dąbrowa Górnicza), Marek Pikuła (CEO of PKM Sosnowiec), Dorota Nowak (Board Member of PKM Sosnowiec), Piotr Drabek (Technical Director of PKM).

Photos: UM Sosnowiec.