Twelve Romanian cities trialing Solaris Urbino 12 hydrogen fuel cell buses

The municipalities will be testing the vehicles from the Polish public transport vehicle producer. Twelve cities in Romania have agreed to start testing Solaris Urbino 12 hydrogen fuel cell buses for their public transportation systems. The announcement was made by Polish Solaris public transport vehicle company which is owned by Spanish CAF. The public transportation vehicles are powered by H2 and will be tested over two months. The hydrogen fuel cell buses are going to be tested as a part of an overall two-month tour of the participating cities in Romania. The cities include Oradea, Timișoa…

The municipalities will be testing the vehicles from the Polish public transport vehicle producer.

Twelve cities in Romania have agreed to start testing Solaris Urbino 12 hydrogen fuel cell buses for their public transportation systems. The announcement was made by Polish Solaris public transport vehicle company which is owned by Spanish CAF.

The public transportation vehicles are powered by H2 and will be tested over two months.

The hydrogen fuel cell buses are going to be tested as a part of an overall two-month tour of the participating cities in Romania. The cities include Oradea, Timișoara, Craiova, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Bucharest, Constanța, Galați, Iași, Sfântu Gheorghe, Brașov, Târgu Mureș, and Cluj-Napoca. As the H2 vehicle progresses throughout its tour across the twelve Romanian cities, it will also progress through a partnership between Solaris Urbino and Linde Gaz Romania. Linde Gaz Romania will be the fuel’s provider throughout these tests. The H2 vehicle model was first unveiled at the 2019 International Association of Public Transport (UITP) which took place in Stockholm. The bus model has a driving range of about 350 kilometers, giving it the advantages of an electric vehicle, but with a longer range and faster refueling time, according to the vehicle maker.

As of yet, none of the participating cities have placed orders for the hydrogen fuel cell buses.

That said, even as none of the cities have ordered any of the H2 vehicles being tested, a number of local administrations have demonstrated interest in placing such an order, according to representatives from Solaris Romania. That said, outside of Romania, Solaris has received orders for its Urbino 12. The company has received orders for the hydrogen fuel buses from German public transport operators. Further orders have come in from transport operators in Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, and Austria. Beyond the orders it has received, it has also delivered on a number of previous orders. This included deliveries to public transportation fleets in Bolzano, Italy as well as in Cologne, Germany. Public transport has become a sector in which H2 has become z` the vehicles and others have already begun transitioning to H2.