ARP e-Vehicles, an electric bus manufacturer from Solec Kujawski, is planning to expand its offer with 12-metre-long electric buses this year. The MAXI (urban, 12-metre) class vehicles account for more than 50 % of the urban bus market in Poland.

ARP e-Vehicles, a Polish manufacturer of electric buses owned by Agencja Rozwoju Przemysłu S.A., started real, small-batch production of its battery-electric vehicles at its plant in Solec Kujawski at the end of last year and is already delivering its first units, winning further orders and planning to enter further prospective market segments.

At present, ARP e-Vehicles has developed two models of low-floor vehicles, 8.5 and 10.0 metres in length, in three urban, suburban and school variants. Now the Solec Kujawski-based company wants to expand its offer with the 12-metre-long Pilea12E bus.

In the report on the activities of ARP e-Vehicles in 2021 posted in the electronic national court register, the company states that work on this model began in September last year and that the company intends to offer all these models (and thus also the Pilea12E) to customers as early as 2022, in urban, suburban and school bus variants.

There are approximately 12,000 public transport buses on the roads in Poland, of which more than nearly 640 vehicles are already electrically powered. Theoretically, 95% of them are still to be replaced (some of the new buses will be hydrogen-powered).

In Poland, battery buses of the MAXI class are currently manufactured by: Solaris Bus & Coach (Solaris 12 Urbino electric) and Volvo (Volvo 7900 Electric), German Man (Lion’s City E) or Autosan. There are also brands manufactured outside Poland: the Chinese Yuotong (U12), the Turkish Otokar (Kent Electra) and the Czech SOR.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński