Deliveries of Solaris electric buses to Latvia

Last week, thanks to Solaris buses, the fleet of electric vehicles in Latvia increased. Two Solaris Urbino 12 electric vehicles were delivered to SIA "VTU" from Valmiera. Valsts Asinsdonoru Centrs from Riga received the Solaris Urbino 8.9 LE electric bus, which is a mobile blood collection station.

Two electric buses ordered by carrier "VTU" from Valmiera are part of a project financed by the European Union. Twelve-meter electric buses are equipped with Solaris High Energy batteries with a capacity of over 420 kWh. Batteries will be charge via a plug-in interface and, in the future, also via a pantograph. Among the interesting additional solutions, the vehicles have so-called ADAS systems, i.e. advanced automatic driver assistance systems, such as: special cameras instead of mirrors, recognizing blind spots and objects around the vehicle, monitoring or the eSconnect system, which remotely collects and monitors the parameters of the bus and individual components. The electric Urbino delivered to Valmiera in recent days are not the first Solaris buses in this city. In 2020 and 2021, VTU purchased 10 hybrid Urbino 12 models.  

The second completed contract in Latvia is the delivery of one Solaris Urbino 8.9 LE electric to Valsts Asinsdonoru Centrs. Extremely interesting is the equipment of this vehicle, which is a mobile blood collection station, known, e.g. from few Polish blood treatment centers in Katowice or Poznań. Not distinguishing itself externally from a standard city bus, the Solaris Urbino 8.9 LE electric blood collection point has been adapted to specialist medical requirements. In response to the client's needs, Solaris equipped the bus with two mobile zones for blood donors, a doctor's office, a reception area and a small catering point. In addition, the vehicle has a number of amenities, such as blinds, external awnings and LED lighting. The air-conditioned passenger cabin, along with Wi-Fi access and conveniently located USB ports at the donor areas, provides a comfortable environment for donors.

The Solaris electric blood collection bus has been designed to enable its operation in urban centres, shopping centres, sports halls and similar places where traditional combustion engine powered vehicles do not have access. The battery capacity of the bus, amounting to more than 260 kWh, enables completely emission-free operation including heating, air conditioning and all devices on board. The vehicle is equipped with a charging station. Solaris has already delivered a similar blood collection station to the same entity. This, however, was built on the platform of a tourist coach. Now, the transformation towards electromobility has also included a fleet of mobile blood donation stations.

In the picture from left: Jānis Baiks, Mayor, Chairman of Valmiera City Council, Aigars Vītols, VTU Valmiera Chairman of the Board, Rolands Katkevičs, Solaris Sales Manager in the Baltic States.