Wedoany.com Report-Mar 19, On 12 March 2025, Solaris reported on its 2024 financial year at its annual press conference. Javier Iriarte, CEO of Solaris, was able to present impressive figures and report that Solaris has grown over the past year.
Solaris, founded in the early 1990s as ‘Neoplan Polska’ by the Olszewski family and renamed ‘Solaris’ in 1996 with its first Urbino, now belongs to the Spanish railway manufacturer CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocariles SA). Right at the beginning he explained that the CAF Group generates a fifth of its turnover and profit with Solaris buses. According to Iriarte, the company is very satisfied with the development of the brand, wants to continue on this path and, above all, wants to continue to grow with Solaris.
In 2024, 1,525 buses were sold – an increase of 4.7% compared to 2023. Sales revenue totalling 927 million euros was achieved – compared to 819 million euros in the previous year – which corresponds to an increase of 13%. The order book comprises 1,609 vehicles.
83% of all buses that left the Solaris factory halls in 2024 were delivered with battery-electric components, i.e. they have a hydrogen drive, are trolleybuses or at least have a hybrid drive. 544 vehicles are purely battery-electric, 259 run on hydrogen and 180 are trolleybuses that draw their traction current from an overhead line – that alone accounts for 65% of all vehicles delivered. Solaris confidently points out that it has already delivered 3,074 buses with these alternative drive systems since 2012, more than any other European manufacturer. Vehicles with zero-emission drives already account for 14% of all buses registered in Europe. Iriarte: ‘We are the absolute market leader in Europe for both battery-electric buses and hydrogen buses, and even more so for trolleybuses.’
Iriarte made particular reference to the hydrogen bus market. This segment in particular is developing very dynamically. While Solaris was able to sell 147 buses with fuel cells in 2023, this figure had already risen to 354 by 2024 – meaning that deliveries of hydrogen buses have more than doubled. And Solaris proudly reports that it has a market share of no less than 69% in this sector.
The number of employees in the company exceeded 3,000 for the first time in 2024. This also shows that Solaris is growing.
Important deliveries
The largest deliveries in 2024 went to Italy, Poland, Germany, Romania, Sweden and Spain. Important customers included ATAC from Rome (245 vehicles), 100 Trollino 12s for Bucharest, 83 Urbino 15 LEs for the Swedish company Nobina, 48 Urbino 18s for Lodz, 36 Urbino 12 hydrogens for Barcelona and 36 Urbino 12 electrics for Milan.
Current delivery contracts
At the end of 2024, Solaris’ order books recorded orders for 1,600 buses with a total order value of 1.4 billion euros. These include 96 battery buses for Transdev Nederland, which are to be deployed in the Utrecht region from the fourth quarter of 2025, while Sweden’s Keolis Sverige has ordered 46 battery buses from Solaris for the Dalarna region – 19 Urbino 12 electric and 27 Urbino 15 LE electric.
Solaris had submitted a bid for 45 battery-electric Urbino 24 electric double-articulated buses for Liège in Belgium and was awarded the contract. The first firm order from this tender comprises 18 vehicles. Arriva Nederland has ordered 30 battery-electric buses from Solaris. The 26 Urbino 12 electric and the four Urbino 18 electric are due to enter service in the Noord-Brabant region in autumn 2025.
Ile-de-France Mobilités (Greater Paris) is expecting 22 Urbino 12 hydrogen buses, and Regionalverkehtr Köln (RVK) is also back with an order for 20 hydrogen buses: 9 Urbino 12 hydrogen and 11 Urbino 18 hydrogen. Solaris proudly reports that the RVK will already have 84 Solaris buses after their delivery – two of which have a battery-electric drive, the remaining 82 run on hydrogen. Note: RVK has had hydrogen buses since 2020. The technology has therefore clearly proven itself.
First orders from North America
Solaris is particularly proud to have received its first orders from North America as part of its growth strategy. Iriarte: ‘While we were previously a European bus manufacturer that supplied the European markets, we are now also focussing on other regions of the world.’
In the USA, a supply contract was concluded with ‘King County Metro’ in Seattle in the state of Washington, which operates public transport not only in Seattle but also in 34 other municipalities. Two 40-foot-long electric buses and two 60-foot-long articulated buses will be delivered. There is also an option for a further twelve buses.
Above all, however, a really large order for trolleybuses has been secured from ‘Translink’, the transport company of the Canadian city of Vancouver. UTM reported. The trolleybuses will have batteries that will enable them to travel on sections of the route without overhead contact lines. And they will not only run on electricity from the overhead contact line, but will also recharge their batteries here (‘in-motion charging’). This system has been in use in Solingen for a few years now, and the corresponding buses are called ‘BOB’ (battery overhead bus). In a first firm order, Vancouver has ordered 107 BOB, plus an option for a further 201. And a second option is for up to 204 articulated BOBs. This means that 512 Solaris battery trolleybuses could be on the road in Vancouver in the foreseeable future – we reported here:
Iriarte: ‘You can see that we are serious about opening up new markets. And to continue to grow.’
New Solaris bus models await their premiere
Finally, Solaris also wants to expand its range of buses with new models. In October, the ‘Urbino 10.5 electric’, a new electric bus with a passenger capacity between the ‘Urbino 12 electric’ and ‘Urbino 9 electric’, will celebrate its world premiere at Busworld in Brussels, the world’s largest bus trade fair. Solaris: ‘A vehicle of this size is still missing.’
And according to Solaris, the market could still do with another vehicle. We are talking about an intercity bus, i.e. a bus for intercity routes. Solaris plans to première such a coach in the first quarter of 2026. And it will be available in two versions: firstly as a low-entry coach and secondly as a bus with a high floor.
