Solaris Urbino 8,9 LE electric is a
low-entry electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
city bus
A transit bus (also big bus, commuter bus, city bus, town bus, urban bus, stage bus, public bus, public transit bus, or simply bus) is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-fl ...
, that debuted in autumn 2011. It was produced by the company
Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. from Bolechowo near
Poznań
Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...
. Its design is based on the
Solaris Urbino 8,9 LE. It was the first electric bus manufactured in Poland. In Poland, it is in use in
Ostrołęka
Ostrołęka (; ) is a small city in northeastern Poland on the Narew river, about northeast of Warsaw, with a population of 51,012 (2021) and an area of . It is the capital of both Ostrołęka County and Ostrołęka City County in the Masovian V ...
,
Cracow,
Jaworzno
Jaworzno is a City with powiat rights, city county in southern Poland in the Silesian Voivodeship, near Katowice. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Przemsza river (a tributary of the Vistula River, Vistula). Jaworzno belongs to Lesser Pol ...
,
Ciechanow,
Chodzież
Chodzież () is a town in northwestern Poland with 17,976 inhabitants as of December 2021, seat of the Chodzież County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship.
Geography
Chodzież is located in the northern part of Greater Poland (western Poland), i ...
,
Września
Września () is a town in west-central Poland near Poznań, with 28,600 inhabitants (1995). It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, on the Wrześnica River.
History
Września was first mentioned in 1256 in a docume ...
,
Katowice
Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
and
Stalowa Wola
Stalowa Wola () is the largest city and capital of Stalowa Wola County with a population of 58,545 inhabitants, as at 31 December 2021. It is located in southeastern Poland in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. The city lies in historic Lesser Poland ...
.
History
Origins
In 1999 Solaris unveiled its first city bus of the
Urbino
Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...
family – the
Solaris Urbino 12
Solaris Urbino 12 is a series of 12.0-metre low-floor buses from the Solaris Urbino series designed for public transport, produced since 1999 by the Polish company Solaris Bus & Coach in Bolechowo near Poznań in Poland. Since 2010 a hybrid ve ...
. In subsequent years the manufacturer widened the city bus range, adding new models which, initially, were conventionally fuelled. In 2002, Solaris showed a new version of the Urbino, the so-called 2nd generation. Two years later, in 2004, the third generation of the Urbino had its première. In 2006, at the
IAA Nutzfahrzeuge trade fair in
Hanover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
, Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. displayed a third generation bus which was also the first of its hybrid models, the
Solaris Urbino 18 hybrid. It was the first serially produced hybrid bus in Europe. As a result, Solaris joined the European leaders of eco-friendly technology in public transport. Krzysztof Olszewski, founder of Solaris Bus & Coach, said at that time that: ''”Diesel has died, long live electricity!”''. In 2008, Solaris showcased the
Urbino 8,9 LE model which later served as the base for the Urbino 8,9 LE electric.
A green dachshund, the trademark of Solaris, with a cable and plug instead of a tail, became the graphic symbol of the Urbino electric.
Urbino 8,9 LE electric
The prototype Solaris Urbino 8,9 LE electric had its début on 20 September 2011, during the Transexpo 2011 fair. The vehicle design was based on the Urbino 8,9 LE. The vehicle was equipped with a 120 kW 4-pole
asynchronous electric motor. Traction batteries with a capacity of 124
kWh
A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a common b ...
were placed in the engine chamber in the high-floor part of the bus deck. The battery weight of 1400 kg forced the designers to reduce the weight of the vehicle, which was achieved, among others, thanks to the application of lighter materials for the side panels (carbon fibre), thinner windows, or aluminium
rims.
It was the first electric bus manufactured in Poland. The chief advantages of a bus powered by electricity are, i.a. the lack of noxious emissions, which means the protection of the natural environment, as well as a low noise emission, but also a high efficiency of the electric drive and lower operating costs in connection with the lower price of electric power needed to cover the same distance as a conventionally powered vehicle.
In the first half of 2012, the producer built the second prototype with more elaborate equipment (such as air conditioning). It was fitted with a fast-charging system, using special chargers, that facilitated a full recharge of depleted batteries in a matter of 1.5 hours. This allowed to extend the range achieved on a single charging session to over 150 km. During the first tests of the electric bus, which took place in the first half of 2012 in Poznań, the bus covered over 3000 km failure-free. Later on, the same prototype was tested also in other Polish cities – in Warsaw, Cracow and Jaworzno (see section:
Operators
Operator may refer to:
Mathematics
* A symbol indicating a mathematical operation
* Logical operator or logical connective in mathematical logic
* Operator (mathematics), mapping that acts on elements of a space to produce elements of another ...
). During tests held in Zakopane, the Urbino electric 8,9 LE carried passengers on the route leading up to the mountain lake Morskie Oko. Meanwhile, in Poznań the bus was covered in artificial grass and it transported football fans who visited the city during the UEFA EURO football cup in June 2012.
Awards
The innovation of the Solaris Urbino electric concept was appreciated and awarded by automotive industry experts. Readers of German magazine “Busplaner” declared the vehicle the “Innovation of 2012” in the Public Transport category. Meanwhile, the jury at the Transexpo trade fair awarded it the Golden Medal for product of the year 2011. Five years later, the twelve-metre electric bus of Solaris won the prestigious award of “Bus of the Years 2017”.
Technical data
Powertrain and batteries
The Solaris Urbino 8,9 LE electric has been fitted with an electric drive, the core element of which is a four-pole asynchronous motor boasting a maximum power of 160 kW and a maximum
torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). The symbol for torque is typically \boldsymbol\tau, the lowercase Greek letter ''tau''. Wh ...
of 1400 Nm. In the prototype bus, the motor is fed with power that is stored in two liquid-cooled lithium batteries with a total capacity of 124 kWh and a rated voltage of 600 V, supplied by Polish firm Wamtechnik. The capacity of the battery in this, as well as in other models of that bus, depends on customer requirements and the particular nature of the bus line the vehicles are used on. The charging of two batteries weighing a total of 1400 kg at a charging terminal of 3x400 V 63 A takes at the most four hours and involves a plug-in connection or (optionally) a bus roof-mounted
pantograph
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a Linkage (mechanical), mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a se ...
. Recharging is also possible en route thanks to energy recuperation during braking. The maximum driving range of the first buses spanned 100 to 150 km, whereas the maximum speed of the vehicle totalled 50 km/h. The distance they are able to cover on a single charging session depends on the capacity of the battery selected by the customer. The drivetrain consists of a ZF RL55-type independent front suspension and rear axle DANA G150, which are set on air bellows.
Bus body and interior
The body structure has been made of steel sections of increased corrosion resistance. Due to the large weight of the battery, it was necessary to reduce the vehicle weight. To make the outer panels of the bodywork, the manufacturer chose stainless steel and lightweight panels made from carbon fibre which has also been used for the rear engine chamber cover. Components with a reduced weight, such as thinner windows, lighter seats, a
mahogany
Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...
floor (instead of a
plywood
Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...
one), foamed ACM for air feed ducts and aluminium rims, have been used in the Urbino 8,9 LE electric for the final touch. In order to reduce power consumption on interior and external lighting, the manufacturer went for
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
lamps. A state-of-the-art panel with three LCD touch screens instead of analogue indicators and traditional switches complete the driver's cabin. The bus contains a maximum of 27 seats (depending on the interior layout). A ramp for disabled passengers is installed in the second door, and space is reserved for passengers using wheelchairs, prams, or pushchairs, opposite of that door.
Operators
Poland
In June 2012, as part of tests, the first prototype bus carried passengers free of charge for three weeks during the
UEFA European Football Championship 2012, in Poznań on the “E” line, running from the
International Airport Poznań – Ławica, past roundabout Rondo Kaponiera up to
shopping, art and business centre Centrum Handlu, Sztuki i Biznesu Stary Browar.
[ (pdf)] During that time the bus covered about 3000 km failure-free. For promotional purposes the bus body was covered in artificial grass, while the headliner featured the image of the sky. In July 2012 the bus was tested by operator MZA Warszawa on the bus line 222 (which later was serviced by Solaris Urbino 12 electric buses acquired by the operator in 2015) . In the same year, the bus was also tested on the 370 bus line route on the streets of Jaworzno. During tests in Zakopane, the Urbino electric 8,9 LE carried passengers among others to mountain lake Morskie Oko.
In September 2014, Solaris signed a contract for the supply of two electric buses of the Solaris Urbino 8,9 LE electric to public transport operator
MZK Ostrołęka. The contract was worth PLN 3.2 million, or 1.6 million per bus. The buses made it to the buyer in spring 2015. These were the first new electric buses to go to the Polish recipient.
In January 2013, tests with the Solaris Urbino 8,9 LE electric were carried out by public transport operator MPK Kraków. The electric bus was tested on the route of bus line 537 connecting
Cracow Main Railway Station - East with the district of Witkowice. During the tests the Solaris bus reached a maximum range of ca. 100 km on a single charging session. In 2014, Cracow launched tests of the 12-metre version of the electric Solaris. A year later operator MPK Kraków announced a tender for the supply of four nine-metre electric buses, which ended in two bids being filed: one by Solaris and the other by Czech manufacturer
SOR
Sor or SOR may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* School of Rock, 2003 film starring Jack Black
* Shades of Rhythm, a British based rave music group
* Son of Rambow, 2008 film starring Bill Milner and Will Poulter
* Sor, Serdar Ortaç ...
. The bid was won by Solaris, which consequently supplied four pantograph-charged Urbino 8,9 LE electric buses in 2016.
After the tests in 2013, and pursuant to the delivery of the first Urbino 12 electric to Jaworzno, in 2017, operator PKM purchased another 22 electric buses from Solaris, including four Urbino 8,9 LE electric. Thanks to these investments, emission-free buses now constitute 40% of the fleet of PKM Jaworzno.
At the beginning of 2017, operator MZK in Chodzież launched a call for bids for the supply of one MIDI-class electric bus. The tender was won by Solaris, and later, in March 2018, the bus was handed over to the operator.
In April 2017, a tender for 19 city buses, including 10 electric ones, was announced by public transport operator MZK Stalowa Wola. As a result, the company received 10 electric Solaris buses one year later.
Also at the beginning of 2017, Solaris secured an order for one Solaris Urbino 8,9 LE electric for the municipality of
Września
Września () is a town in west-central Poland near Poznań, with 28,600 inhabitants (1995). It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, on the Wrześnica River.
History
Września was first mentioned in 1256 in a docume ...
; the bus was delivered in December 2017, whereas in January 2018 it rolled out on the streets of the town constituting part of the newly launched local public transport service.
At the beginning of 2017, the Regional Blood Donation and Hemotherapy Centre (RCKiK) launched a call for tender for two electrically propelled mobile blood donation centres. The sole offer was submitted by Solaris, which already had experience making a mobile blood donation centres based on the Solaris Vacanza coach.
The gross price of the two Urbino 8,9 LE electric adapted to the needs of the RCKiK was set at PLN 6.1 million. The first bus was delivered to Katowice mid-2018. It is the first electric bloodmobile in the world.
Europe
The first one to buy electric Solaris buses was, in 2013, the
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n city of
Klagenfurt. Public services company Stadtwerke Klagenfurt acquired one electric vehicle to service the route between the
main railway station
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
and the university campus.
In July 2017, the biggest Belgian bus operator – STIB, which handles urban bus services in Brussels, placed an order for 7 zero-emission city buses of the MIDI class with the Polish manufacturer; these buses were delivered at the beginning of 2018.
In 2018, Solaris provided two Solaris Urbino 8,9 LE electric buses to the city of
Sète
Sète (; , ), also historically spelled ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises'' (fem ...
, on the southern coast of France.
The year 2018 saw the delivery of the first electric buses of 8.9 m made in collaboration with
Škoda Electric
Škoda means "pity" in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to:
Czech brands and enterprises
* Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav
** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto responsi ...
. As was the case for the 12-metre buses produced by Škoda together with Solaris, these vehicles were also later named Škoda Perun. The receiving party was the municipal operator from
České Budějovice
České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše.
České Budějovice is the largest ...
.
References
{{Reflist
Electric buses
8.9 LE electric
Low-entry buses
Vehicles introduced in 2011