Natural gas powers the Urbino for Tallin. Mega order for 100 CNG buses

Mainly known among Sustainable Bus’ pages for its electric bus products (both battery-electric and trolleybuses), Solaris Bus & Coach is also active in the field of gas-powered buses. And Tallin, capital city of Estonia, has just issued a large order for as many as 100 Solaris Urbino CNG. The vehicles will be delivered in the last four months of 2020. In late 2018, RATP Paris signed a framework agreement for 48 Urbino CNG.

Already 50 zero-emission vehicles by Solaris are running in Tallin: they’re trolleybuses equipped with IMC technology. As a result of this last order, Estonia will become the 14th European country to which Solaris will deliver its compressed natural gas buses.

Tallin to receive 12-meter and articulated buses

Among the buses that Solaris will supply to Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS operator, 60 are Solaris Urbino 12 vehicles, another 40 are Solaris Urbino 18 articulated buses.

A mega order from Tallinn, covering the delivery of 100 low-floor city buses powered by compressed natural gas, is the second largest, one-off contract for vehicles of this type won by the Polish manufacturer. The tender, with a total value of EUR 27 million, will be carried out between September and November 2020.

The heart of the new vehicles, in both the 12 and 18 meter versions, will be a 239 kW engine adapted to work with compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel. It will be equipped with a cold start function that facilitates starting at low outside temperatures. The drive system will be complemented by an automatic gearbox that ensures optimal driving comfort for drivers and passengers. The CNG gas storage cylinders will be located on the roof of the vehicles in their front part. For both Urbino 12 and Urbino 18 it will comprise 5 cylinders with a capacity of 315 liters each.

Up to 150 passengers on Urbino CNG 18

The ordered Solaris Urbino CNG vehicles will have a high passenger capacity. The Urbino 12 will be able to accommodate over 80 passengers at a time, including 31 in seating position. 12 of the seats will be available from a low floor level. Urbino 18, in turn, will take up to 150 people on board, 41 seated. In articulated vehicles, 16 seats will be available from the low floor, making it easier for people with reduced mobility to take up their seat.

Both versions of the vehicles will also be equipped with a number of solutions improving the comfort of passengers on board. There will be e.g. an efficient air-conditioning and dual USB sockets between the seats in each row – in Urbino 12 there will be a total of 17 of them, while in the articulated version – as many as 22. The equipment of the vehicles will also include a passenger information system with internal and external voice announcement of stops and a CCTV monitoring system consisting of 5 internal cameras, as well as head direction and reversing cameras.

Buses will feature the detection system and a refueling supervision system, enabling safe supervision of the amount of refueled and used fuel. For the safety of drivers, it was also decided to use a closed-type driver’s cabin.