Sardinia's largest public transport company ARST S.p.A. has ordered Solaris 100 Urbino 12 hybrid buses. The vehicles will be delivered to the city of Cagliari, the Sardinian capital. The Italian island already has dozens of the manufacturer's vehicles on the road. The hybrid buses will be delivered to Cagliari and enter service in 2024.
The contract is part of a framework agreement signed in 2021 with joint-stock company Consip owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). Under that agreement, public transport companies (TPL, Italian: Trasporti Pubblici Locali) are allowed to order vehicles directly or make a call for tender targeting chosen suppliers. The Urbino 12 hybrid, which will run on Sardinian roads, will be fitted with a new generation hybrid drive system consisting of a 250 kW electric traction motor and an internal 150 kW Euro 6
combustion engine. The Sardinian Urbino 12 hybrid has a 2-door layout. The vehicles will be equipped with monitoring and a passenger counting system located above each door. A range of comfort solutions will be available to drivers, including an enclosed customised driver's cabin. There are already more than 1,500 Solaris vehicles on Italian roads. Almost a third of these are zero-emission electric buses and trolleybuses.