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Romania receives its first ever emission-free battery buses

Posted: 25 June 2018 | | No comments yet

Expanding the bus fleet with sustainable vehicles illustrates Romania’s commitment to reducing the air and noise pollution levels across their country…

Romania

The Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca has received the country’s first order of emission-free battery vehicles.

The 11 Solaris Urbino 12 electric buses were delivered by Solaris Bus & Coach and welcomed by the Mayor of the City, Emil Boca and the Polish Ambassador in Romania, Arkadiusz Michoński.

This delivery constitutes the first part of an order that can be extended to 41 buses in the coming three years. The city authorities have already ordered a further 12 buses of the same model, to be delivered by the end of 2018.

The electric buses were purchased under the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme and it will be CTP Transport Company who will become the operator of the vehicles.

The 12m Urbino electric are equipped with a drive made in Poland. The model commissioned by the operator has been fitted with a central 160kW electric motor and 200kWh traction batteries. Adding electric buses to the fleet required investments into charging infrastructure, involving the construction of 11 slow-charging and two fast-charging stations using roof-mounted pantographs.

The buses for Cluj-Napoca feature air-conditioning in the passenger compartment as well as a complete monitoring system on the outside and inside of the vehicle. Furthermore, Urbino electric buses have the option of offering free Wi-Fi access and can carry up to 78 passengers, with 10 seats accessible from the low floor for passengers with reduced mobility.

The order carried out by Solaris is the company’s first contract for electric buses in Romania. However, the manufacturer has a longer history of collaboration with the country: the first vehicle (a 12m Trollino) was produced for the Romanian operator over 15 years ago.