Over 700 e-buses today in Poland. Last year the share of electric city buses exceeded the one of diesel ones

Over 700 electric buses are today in operation in Poland. In Q1 2022 alone, as many as 79 vehicles joined this fleet. The figures are released in the e-bus counter of the Polish Chamber of Electromobility Development Association and the specialized media TransInfo.pl. Over 1,350 e-buses are forecasted to be in operation between 2022 and 2024.

The highlight of 2022 was the overtaking of diesel vehicles (for the first time ever), which reached a share of 35% last year, with electric buses at 36%.

Warsaw lead Polish cities in terms of e-bus fleet

The largest e-bus fleet is in the capital city Warsaw, where 162 electric buses are used in city traffic (130 units delivered by Solaris within end 2020). Other cities in the lead are Kraków with 78 e-buses, Poznań with 59 zero-emission buses. Just behind the podium were Jaworzno (44 units) and Zielona Góra (43 units).

These figures show that the share of e-buses in the urban segment is above 30% and growing. As mentioned above, the highlight of 2022 was the overtaking of diesel vehicles (for the first time ever), which reached a share of 35% last year, with electric buses at 36%. This trend continues this year as well.

Currently, 191 e-buses are in the process of delivery (with signed contracts), of which about 100 units will reach the cities still this year. Another 82 buses are in the tendering procedure, 32 have secured co-financing from the 1st edition of the Green Public Transport programme, but no tenders have been announced yet, and as many as 340 electric buses are to receive co-financing from the 2nd edition of the Green Public Transport programme, but no contracts have been signed here yet. If all agreements and co-financing are fulfilled, it can be expected that between 2022 and 2024 there will be over 1350 electric buses on Polish roads.

Solaris and Ekoenergetyka leading

Invariably, the leader among manufacturers in Polish cities is Solaris Bus & Coach (CAF Group), which is likely to maintain its leading position until the end of the year, the Polish Chamber of Electromobility Development Association says. However, right on top of it, more and more e-buses from companies such as Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and MAN (that produces the Lion’s City E in the country) are appearing in Poland, as the figures for Q1 2022 show.

In the infrastructure segment, the leader is Ekoenergetyka-Polska from Zielona Góra, which launched in Poland 437 charging stations with a total capacity of 61 MW. Further places on the podium belong to: Medcom (16% – 85 charging stations), Enika (3% – 13 charging stations). In Poland there are currently 520 electric bus charging stations in use, which provide more than 70 MW of power, in over 50 cities.

“This is another year that shows us how well public transport is doing in the electromobility market. We are all the more pleased with the fact that the great majority of electric buses are manufactured in Poland. The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management is allocating more and more funds precisely to subsidise zero-emission buses and the infrastructure for charging them. Of course, it is good that local authorities are willing and keen to take advantage of such programmes”., comments Marcin Nowak, board member of the Polish Chamber of Electromobility Development Association

“When it comes to the brands of e-buses purchased in Q1 2022, Volvo is currently the number one (27 units), followed by Mercedes (24 units) and Solaris (24 units). Despite the negative impact of the pandemic and high electricity prices, it is developing dynamically. It is favoured by EU Founds and governmental subsidies. This year’s forecasts for the electric bus market also look promising”, says Aleksander Kierecki of TransInfo.pl.