Solaris has agreed to supply up to sixteen buses to the King County Metro Transit Department, the public transit authority which serves King County and the city of Seattle in the state of Washington.

The vehicle in question is an articulated ‘Urbino 18’ battery electric bus, one of fifty ordered in 2023 by Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, the state-owned company which manages public transportation in the German capital.

The ‘Urbino 24’ double-articulated buses will serve on bus rapid transit routes in the city.

Transdev says it will deploy them in the Province of Utrecht in the central Netherlands.

VDL will supply up to 157 ‘Citea’ buses and Solaris will supply 30 ‘Urbino’ electric buses to Arriva starting on 6 July 2025.

The jury praised the concept of the truck, which was first unveiled at the last IAA Transportation event in 2022: originally called ‘eActros Long Haul’, the idea was to develop a truck capable of covering up to 500 kilometres on a single charge.

Under the themes of “energy transition and sustainable mobility”, the European public transport industry met to demonstrate its new sustainable products/technologies as the sector looks to rapidly decarbonise to meet climate pledges outlined in the European Green Deal.

The first Urbino was unveiled on 26 May 1999 at the Poznań Motor Show – since then, over 25,000 units have rolled off the production line at the Bolechowo factory.

The total value of the orders, including 10-year service contracts, amounts to EUR200m, making it one of the largest in the company’s history, according to Solaris.

The European e-bus market gathered in Bonn, Germany to test drive several OEM’s new electric bus (some articulated) offerings. T&BB was in attendance as we gathered at the Stadtwerke Bonn bus depot to begin comparison testing.

The contract for 15 buses is worth over EUR10m and includes the provision of 15 stationary chargers at the depot and two pantograph stations located in the city.

Some 1,000 units are to be made up of approximately 800, FCmove-HD 70 kW and 200, FCmove-HD+ 100 kW engines which will be integrated into the Solaris 12-metre and 18-metre buses. Included in the contract are after-market and extended warranty services. Delivery will occur from 2024 to 2027.