Estonia: Tallinn will roll out 100 new natural gas buses in 2020
Over the last few days, bus manufacturer Solaris (part of the CAF Group) has concluded various contracts to supply eco-friendly units to cities in Estonia, Poland, Norway, Hungary and Romania for a total amount in excess of EUR 70 million.
Among these agreements, Solaris has won the tender to supply 100 CNG urban buses for the capital city of Estonia. In late 2020, Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS, the city’s operator will receive 60 Solaris Urbino 12 buses and 40 Solaris Urbino 18 articulated buses. With a total value of EUR 27 million, this is the second largest contract to be awarded to the Polish manufacturer for vehicles of this type.
For the 12 and 18 meter models, the heart of these new vehicles will be a 239 kW engine converted to run on CNG. This engine will be equipped with a cold-start function to facilitate start-up at low exterior temperatures, while the driving system will feature automatic transmission to guarantee optimum drive comfort. The CNG storage tanks, five per vehicle, will be roof-mounted and with a capacity of 315 liters each.
The buses are also noted for their great passenger capacity, with room for more than 80 passengers in the Urbino 12 model, while the Urbino 18 will be able to carry up to 150 passengers.
The presence of the eco-friendly Solaris vehicles in Tallinn dates back to 2002 and, since then, the company has supplied more than 50 trolleybuses. This contract makes Estonia the 14th European country to be supplied with Solaris CNG buses, joining others such as Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Italy, Holland, Spain and France.
