Readers of Truck & Bus Builder will be accustomed by now to news stories reporting the demise of yet another electric vehicle startup. Particularly in Britain and in the USA, several new companies in receipt of millions of dollars of investors’ money – either through venture capital funding rounds or the stock market – have faltered in the past year, reducing their business activities to a fraction of their original scope or ceasing to trade altogether. Yet, in late 2024, while all of this was going on, a small British firm successfully raised a sum of GBP17.3m from investors who could justifiably have refused to cough up a single penny towards yet another electric vehicle proposition. Bucking the trend, Sunswap Ltd is showing that a new entrant can bring out a product that is economically as well as environmentally sustainable.

Wabash began production of the 2026 DuraPlate Dry Van on 1 December last year, adding a new braking system and a lighter body.

The contract is the second major order from a North American customer announced by Solaris since it laid out its strategy for entering the market at UITP 2023.

The contract stipulates a firm order for two hundred buses, to be delivered beginning in 2026, plus options to acquire up to 550 more.

In addition to a snow plough at the front of the truck, a second plough is attached to the side of the Pacton salt spreader trailer, measuring 5.5 metres in length.