Innovation continues at Solaris

In 2011 Solaris Bus & Coach SA from Poland celebrated its 15th anniversary. Since production began in 1996, the company has built upon its spirit of innovation to become one of Europe’s leading bus manufacturers. The Solaris Tramino low-floor tram now also brings state-of-the-art mobility to urban rail. Piotr Sadowski reports.

Solaris finished 2010 with another record business result, with 1120 buses delivered to customers – more than ever before. Turnover and employee headcount both recorded significant increases. Major milestones in the last year included the launch of tram production, and an initial order for 45 Tramino low-floor trams is currently being produced at two new facilities in the Greater Poznań region.

Solaris is at the top of the Polish bus and coach market with a 42 per cent share. City buses continue to be a key market for Solaris and the company leads the Polish city bus market with a 54 per cent share (data for 2011). The company is also a major exporter: in 2011 1205 buses were exported to customers in Europe. The highest numbers of vehicles were delivered to customers in Germany, France and throughout Scandinavia. German clients received 248 buses, an increase of 31 per cent on the year before, giving Solaris a 6 per cent share of the overall Germany bus market. French clients received 149 buses and Scandinavian clients 140 buses.

The annual turnover of Solaris Bus & Coach SA was up 17 per cent to €370 million in 2011, compared to €294 the year before.

Urbino at the heart of the bus range

The Urbino low-floor bus is available in lengths ranging from 8.6-metre midibuses to 18-metre articulated versions. A wide choice of ecofriendly drive trains makes the Solaris Urbino the leading solution for climate protection and sustainable mobility. In fact, at the 59th UITP World Congress and Exhibition in Dubai (10–14 April 2011), Solaris exhibited an Urbino city bus. The vehicle is operated by host city Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority. In fact, Dubai has a fleet of 225 Solaris buses, one of the largest in the world. Closer to home, in Europe, thousands of Solaris Urbino 18 low-floor city buses are already showing their credentials on city streets.

The new Solaris Urbino 18 DIWAhybrid articulated city bus uses a Voith parallel hybrid system. A 150kW electric motor supports the diesel engine. Energy is stored in supercapacitors, resulting in reduced fuel consumption and lower wear and tear. In fact, the new version of the bus with the Voith DIWAhybrid is a trendsetting choice for state-of-the-art public transport. “Together with our partner of many

years, Voith Turbo, we have now taken another important step towards sustainable electric mobility,” says Solange Olszewska, CEO of Solaris. “In choosing the Urbino 18 DIWAhybrid, our customers benefit from a parallel hybrid bus that makes no compromises in economy or reliability.” Dr Volker Zimmermann, managing director at Voith Turbo, also explains that technologies that further reduce costs for transport operators and make buses even more environmentally friendly have long been his company’s focus. Developing electric drives for the specific operating profiles of city buses is a top priority for Voith Turbo and in the case of the parallel hybrid drive, the Urbino 18 DIWAhybrid is the reference application in Germany and Europe. Nineteen Urbino 18 DIWA hybrid buses are successfully running in regular public-transit operations for three German customers since the beginning of 2011.

Celebrating 16 years of operations

“Among the keys to our success are our spirit of innovation and the high quality of our buses and trams,” says Mrs Olszewska. “Over the past year, these have helped us win new customers for our products. More important still is the large number of existing customers placing repeat orders for our buses.” The company could not hope for better references than these.

This year, Solaris again expects a good result with further sustainable growth. Among business development plans is the addition of further eco-friendly drive technologies to the product range, including the start of volume production of two new hybrid buses. One of them is the above-described Urbino 18 DIWAhybrid bus, delivered in

partnership with Voith Turbo. This and other hybrid buses, as well as tried and tested Solaris trolleybuses, provide valuable experience for the development of battery electric buses. A first prototype is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year.

For urban rail, the Solaris Tramino family of low-floor trams will continue to give the highest comfort to passengers and excellent economic benefits to operators. Irrespective of order size, Solaris is able to offer variants of this modular platform, as well as tailor-made solutions.

The current year is also a time for celebrations. On 22 March 1996, bus production at the plant in Bolechowo near Poznań opened with a workforce of only 36 people and an output of 56 buses in the first year. Within just a decade-and-a-half and led by Krzysztof and Solange Olszewski, Solaris has become one of Europe’s leading bus constructors, supplying vehicles to 23 countries. n