Barcelona will receive more hybrid Solaris buses

Before the end of the year Solaris will deliver low-emission vehicles to Catalonia. The city carrier Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) has ordered 30 Urbino 12 hybrid buses which will boost the fleet of the Area Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB) and join the nearly hundred buses of Solaris currently deployed in Barcelona and its suburbs.

At the end of March, TMB, the public transport operator in Barcelona, determined the winner of the tender for the supply of 30 hybrid buses, whose final user will be AMB operator. The contract was awarded to Solaris which committed to supply environmentally friendly vehicles by the end of 2021. The final signing of the contract will take place in the coming weeks. This is yet another substantial order coming from Spain secured by Solaris in the past weeks. Apart from the 30 hybrid vehicles going to the capital of Catalonia, the producer will supply some 250 CNG-fuelled buses to Madrid.

The hybrid drive of the vehicles commissioned for Barcelona will consist of a Euro 6 standard-compliant engine of 151 kW and of an electric traction motor. Moreover, the vehicles will feature supercapacitors that make it possible to store and then use recovered energy. This solution allows for a considerable reduction of fuel consumption (compared to buses with conventional drives), and, at the same time, for minimising pollutant emissions into the air.

Additionally, the Solaris Urbino 12 hybrids will be equipped with the Arrive & Go system that controls the operation of the diesel engine. This function allows to turn off the bus engine upon approach of a bus stop, and it turns the engine on again when the vehicle sets off. This, in turn, makes it possible for the bus to run in electric motor mode only, which reduces noise and emissions on site, for the benefit of passengers. What is more, while in the Arrive & Go mode, the vehicles will use the Acoustic Vehicle Alert System (AVAS), which generates warning sounds to alert pedestrians to the presence of a vehicle with an electric drive.

The comfort of the bus ride will be ensured among other things by an air-conditioning of the whole vehicle, a state-of-the-art passenger information system, USB ports accessible to all travellers and also white LED screens. Solaris’ concern to raise the safety of passengers has compelled the company to cover the plastic elements of passenger seats with an antibacterial layer. The drivers will have a range of solutions at their disposal that improve their work comfort; these will include a closed driver cabin adjusted to individual client needs. Road safety will be enhanced by devices such as the MirrorEye system which replaces conventional side mirrors with cameras that ensure improved visibility in bright sunlight as well as during rain or after nightfall. Meanwhile, the Eco Driver Advisor system will be in charge of controlling and supporting economical driving.

The first Solaris buses appeared in Barcelonal in 2014. At present, nearly 100 of these vehicles are in use in this city, most of them featuring a hybrid or electric drive. Solaris is a European leader in the production and sales of low- and zero-emission buses. So far, Solaris has brought over 900 electric buses and over 760 hybrid buses to the streets of European countries.