Riga municipal public transport company Rīgas satiksme LLC will spend EUR 9.9 million to purchase another 17 electric buses, as reported by the company’s public relations office manager Baiba Bartaševiča-Feldmane.
The municipal company has signed a contract with Polish company Solaris Bus & Coach Sp. z o.o for the purchase of 17 electric buses.
“New electric buses proved their reliability. This is why we have signed a contract with Solaris Bus & Coach Sp. z o.o. for the purchase of another 17 buses, which we will receive in the middle of 2025,” says the company’s board member Andris Lubāns.
He explains the use of electric trains so far has been successful. The buses are successfully used in winter, when air temperature dropped as far as -25° C, and currently – now that air temperatures reach +30° C.
Rīgas satiksme received all of the 35 electric buses ordered from Solaris at the end of 2023. These buses are currently used to carry passengers on 14 different routes.
The total mileage of the buses has reached 590 650 kilometres, with one bus covering 120 to 170 kilometres per day. The electric bus, which started running one of the first, has a total mileage of 25 553 kilometres. Buses can travel more than 200 kilometres on a single charge. In turn, they can travel up to 250 kilometres when inter-charging. The average distance travelled during the day for all electric buses is 4 240 kilometres in total.
Charging units provide 120 kilowatts of charging power. Two vehicles can be connected to each unit at the same time. The charging time for buses up to 100% is about two hours if one bus is connected to the charging unit. When connecting two – the charging time is about four hours.
The total contract price for the purchase of 17 electric buses and their spare parts is EUR 9.9 million. The financing of the European Union Recovery Fund in the amount of EUR 9.7 million has been attracted for the purchase of buses.