Solaris electric buses on the streets of Ostrava

The first Solaris electric buses in the Czech Republic have officially taken to the streets of Ostrava. Solaris signed a contract with the operator Dopravní podnik Ostrava (DPO) for the supply of 24 Urbino 12 electric buses and the charging infrastructure in 2021. Today was the official delivery of the first tranche of eight units to the city.

Today, on 6 May 2022, eight Solaris Urbino 12 electric buses appeared on the streets of Ostrava in the Czech Republic. This is the first tranche of deliveries, out of the 24 electric buses that were ordered by the transport operator Dopravní Podnik Ostrava a.s. through a tender. Along with the electric buses the charging infrastructure will also be delivered to the city. Already today, a pantograph charging station - the first of the four ordered – is installed at the Hranečník location. In addition, DPO has also ordered 24 mobile chargers, 8 of which are already at the location – and 4 service chargers. The official delivery took place on Friday, May 6 in Ostrava, in the presence of Mgr. Martin Kupka, Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic, Ing. Tomáš Macura, MBA, Mayor of Ostrava, Ing. Daniel Morys, MBA, DPO’s CEO, and media representatives.

"We are changing bus transport in Ostrava. The new charging infrastructure at the Hranečník terminal is the next phase of our strategy and complements the existing charger for electric buses in Ostrava-Svinov. The next part of the plan is to build a charging station also on ul. Valchařská in the city centre. Ostrava will thus have three strategic points where the electric buses will top up their batteries and from where they will leave to serve the surrounding areas. This will significantly reduce CO2 production at these locations," said Daniel Morys, Chairman of the Board and CEO of DPO.

"We have been working with DPO for more than 20 years. It was to Ostrava that we delivered our first vehicle for the export market. I am extremely proud that our company can be part of the history of public transport in this city, especially because it is quite an impressive history! The authorities have been consistently implementing the fleet transformation plan, in line with the motto: "Diesel-free public transport!" Electromobility is certainly the future of transportation, and zero-emission solutions provide indisputable benefits for residents – less noise and reduced pollution," said Roman Zdráhal, Director of SOLARIS CZECH.

Urbino 12 electric are modern and environmental They are extremely quiet and do not emit pollutants into the atmosphere, thereby increasing the comfort of life of the city residents. On board they accommodate 85 passengers who can use wireless Internet and USB charging ports. All models are equipped with external and internal LED lighting and a monitoring system that consists of up to seven cameras.

The vehicles, which have been added to Ostrava's fleet, are equipped with Solaris High Power batteries with a total capacity of over 90 kWh. In addition to charging via the classic plug-in connector, the energy in the Urbino electric can also be supplied using an inverted pantograph in the OppCharge standard.

In the photo (from the left): Roman Zdráhal (Director SOLARIS CZECH), Tomáš Hüner (Head of Smart Infrastructure, Siemens), Daniel Morys (Chairman of the Board and CEO of DPO), Martin Kupka (Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic), Tomáš Macuram (Mayor of Ostrava), Eva Ručková (Managig Director SOLARIS CZECH), Katarzyna Drgas (Regional Sales Manager Solaris Bus & Coach).