Solaris enters French trolleybus market. 22 Trollino to be supplied in Saint-Etienne
Solaris enters in the French trolleybus market. The Polish company won a tender for the supply of 22 trolleybuses 12 meter to Saint-Etienne in the years 2019-2022. The vehicles will be fitted with a Skoda drive system and 40 kWh battery. The value of the contract is over 17 million euros. Solaris Trolleybus with Skoda drive […]
Solaris enters in the French trolleybus market. The Polish company won a tender for the supply of 22 trolleybuses 12 meter to Saint-Etienne in the years 2019-2022. The vehicles will be fitted with a Skoda drive system and 40 kWh battery. The value of the contract is over 17 million euros.
Solaris Trolleybus with Skoda drive system
The vehicles will be equipped with a Skoda drive system. The Trollino for Saint-Etienne will also be fitted with batteries with a capacity of over 40 kWh, which will allow trolleybuses to drive outside the traction network. In addition, the vehicles will be equipped with air conditioning, monitoring, so-called. anti-aggressive cabin and an innovative interior lighting system that will be partially installed in the passenger handrails. Solaris Trollino 12 for Saint-Etienne will be made in the “facelift” version, which from January 2019 is a standard in Solaris vehicles.
In France since 2003
According to the agreement, Solaris points out in a press release, five vehicles will be delivered in 2019, the next five in 2020, and the remaining ones in 2021-2022. In addition, the contract provides for the option of increasing the order by two trolleybuses. Solaris made its debut on the French market in 2003. From that moment on, it has delivered more than five hundred buses (conventional vehicles as well as hybrid, electric and natural gas-powered buses). The Saint-Etienne contract will inaugurate the presence of Trollino range on the French market.
Saint-Etienne strategy for trolleybuses
Last year, in July, Saint-Etienne Métropole voted for the In Motion Charging option for the STAS urban network. Saint-Etienne Métropole is one of the very rare cities in France still using trolleybuses in daily operations. A report, written with the Systra engeenering office and the STAS, concluded that the IMC would be the fastest a easyest way to fulfill the “Loi de Transition énergétique pour la croissance verte” for the Saint-Etienne urban network.
