Delivery of Ballard’s next-generation FCvelocity-HD7 power modules to Solaris is planned for later this year.
Solaris Bus & Coach, based in Poland, is one of the leading players in the European bus industry. The Company manufactures intracity, intercity and special-purpose buses as well as low-floor trams. Since starting production in 1996, over 10,000 Solaris vehicles have been deployed in 28 countries, including Poland, Germany, Norway, France, Sweden, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates.
Dariusz Michalak, Solaris Deputy CEO and CTO said, "We are very pleased to be working with Ballard on these buses for the European market. Ballard’s fuel cell range extenders are compact, deliver the highest performance and offer great lifetime."
Ballard’s fuel cell power modules will be utilized as range extenders, in combination with batteries, in Solaris electric bus platforms. The FCvelocity®-HD7 modules offer improved durability, reliability together with significant cost reduction in comparison to the previous generation product.
Günter Elste, CEO of Hamburger Hochbahn AG states: "It is Hamburg’s challenging goal as of 2020 not to buy any conventional diesel buses anymore. During the CUTE and HyFLEET/CUTE programs there was already a successful collaboration with Ballard, which we will now continue."
John Sheridan, Ballard’s President and CEO added, "This contract is further evidence of growing interest in the deployment of zero emission fuel cell buses in Europe."
Ballard’s current generation fuel cell power module has been delivering a high level of performance in European buses. In 2013, for example, Ballard fuel cell modules delivered greater than 97% availability in buses currently operating in the cities of London and Amsterdam.
