Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid - the first hybrid drive bus in Switzerland

On the 26th of June 2007, the first hybrid drive bus in Switzerland was ceremoniously taken into operation in the Swiss town of Lenzburg. The 18 meter long Solaris Urbino Hybrid had been built in the small western Polish town of Bolechowo

for one of the largest transportation companies of Switzerland, the privately owned Eurobus.

On the 26th of June, exactly at 11.25 am, the general manager of the Eurobus group, Mr. Andreas Meier, opened the delivery ceremony of the innovative city bus Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid. Among the guests were Mr. Franz Brun, president of traffic commission of the National Assembly, Ms. Christina Spörry, director of the traffic branch of the Department of Construction, Traffic and Environment of the Aarau canton, and Mr. Krzysztof Olszewski, chairman of the executive board of Solaris Bus & Coach.

The Swiss government representatives attach great importance to the improvement of the environmental quality by employing innovative means of transportation. Accordingly, Switzerland is the first European country in which means of public transportation, including buses, are obligatorily to be equipped with CRT particle filters.

Following the official part, the hybrid bus was presented in operation. During the premiere tour with the Solaris Urbino 18, passengers had the opportunity to convince themselves of the advantages of the hybrid drive - the smooth start, the unobtrusive change of gears, the dynamic acceleration, through to the effective braking, and all this at a significantly lower noise level.

The innovative Solaris Urbino Hybrid had been presented to the general public for the first time on the occasion of the IAA utility vehicles 2006 in Hannover. The Dresden municipal transportation company DVB AG purchased the first unit. There, it is operated every day on one line of the transportation network. The operation parameters, which are constantly being recorded, are used to optimize the hybrid drive systems.

The delivery of the first hybrid bus to Switzerland has affirmed the position of the Polish bus manufacturer on the Swiss market. The Solaris buses have begun to conquer the Swiss market only five years ago. Meanwhile, there are 110 Solaris-made vehicles are in operation there. In the record year 2004, a total of 41 vehicles were delivered to six Swiss customers.

Solaris Bus & Coach counts among the most significant bus manufacturers in Europe. Its wide range of products includes, among others, the city bus Solaris Urbino, the trolley bus Solaris Trollino, the coach Vacanza, and numerous buses for specific purposes. Since production started in 1996, more than 3,000 buses have been made near the western Polish city of Poznan, which are operated in 18 European countries. In April 2007, Solaris Bus & Coach has won a tender for the delivery of 225 buses to Dubai.

Solaris Bus & Coach is a family-owned enterprise. The founder and chief executive of the company, Mr. Krzysztof Olszewski, has gathered his first experiences in the branch at “Neoplan”, a bus manufacturer in Berlin, where he had been working as works manager. In 1996, he founded his own production site in Bolechowo near Poznan.

Solaris has introduced the first low-floor buses to the Polish market and has become a trailblazer in this field. Export of Solaris buses began in the year 2000, and export sales now amount to 80 percent of the whole production. On most European markets, Solaris Bus & Coach records considerable market shares.

The company‘s development proves continuous and dynamic, keeping broadening the product range by innovative vehicles. In 2006, Solaris presented Europe‘s first production hybrid-drive bus.