Craiova to boast 16 new electric buses

Thanks to a project co-funded by the European Union

At the beginning of next year, the city of Craiova, located in southern Romania, will be receiving 16 new electric buses, informed Mihail Genoiu, mayor of the municipality. He signed the contract for the delivery on Tuesday, 28 April 2020.

"These are state-of-the-art buses with air conditioning heating and cooling system, Wi-Fi equipment, traffic management system, passenger audio-video information system, passenger counting system, 7-camera video surveillance system, USB sockets for charging various devices. The buses will serve three routes in the city, which have already been established," stated mayor Genoiu. 

The contract also includes the installation of 16 slow-charging stations and 4 fast-charging stations. Traffic lights will also be provided, while 5 new intersections on bus routes will be included in the current traffic management system.

Thanks to EU financial support

The contract is financed under the European Union's MOTORIC 1 program. The first prototype bus will arrive in Craiova in January 2021, and the remaining units will be delivered monthly starting February 2021.

The winner of the tender for the delivery of the 16 electric buses is the company Solaris Bus and Coach SA from Poland. The price of the buses is RON 57.5 million (around EUR 12 mln.), VAT excluded. The contribution of the municipality of Craiova will be only 320,000 euros.

The buses will have a minimum length of 17.5 meters and a maximum of 18.75 meters with the capacity of at least 100 passengers and the speed of 70 km/h.  

The 16 e-buses will also be equipped with heating and air conditioning cooling system, Wi-Fi, CGMT traffic management system, audio-video passenger information system, passenger counting system, video surveillance with at least 7 cameras and USB sockets for charging passengers' devices.