ZERO-EMISSION TRANSPORT IS THE FUTURE
The number of zero-emission and hybrid private vehicles, as well as those used by public institutions and for public tasks, is increasing every year. In the coming years, more and more local authorities will be switching to low-emission public transport. It has only been four years since the debut of the PILEA prototype, and ARP E-Vehicles is winning successive tenders and performing contracts for many Polish cities and towns. Buses with the PILEA logo carry passengers in Konin, Bełchatów, Myszków, Malczyce, among others, and soon they will also serve the residents of Sieradz, Zielona Góra, Świnoujście and Mrągowo.
PILEA - zero-emission buses from Bydgoszcz
ARP E-Vehicles is a Polish company owned by Agencja Rozwoju Przemysłu S.A.. It has been manufacturing electric buses under the PILEA brand since 2020. The bus prototype was designed by Polish engineers, from the very beginning as an electric car. The innovative solution, used in all PILEA models, is the placement of the battery low under the floor, which significantly lowered the bus's centre of gravity and thus improved the buses' driving characteristics. Thanks to this innovative solution, the buses do not tilt sideways when cornering, which is highly praised by drivers.
Despite the still underdeveloped infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling, Polish cities are slowly beginning to issue tenders for the supply of hydrogen-powered buses. Trends in both the European and global markets show that hydrogen will soon become a widely available ecological fuel that will power more and more types of vehicles. This is why ARP E-Vehicles partnered with Canadian company Loop Energy, a global hydrogen cell manufacturer, at the beginning of the year and embarked on the PILEA H2 project. Months of intensive work on this project resulted in the presentation, during the New Mobility Congress in Łódź in September, of the first PILEA electric bus with a hydrogen extender. It is a 'hybrid' electric bus, powered by both electric batteries and a 30 kw hydrogen cell. With this solution, the PILEA H2 is able to travel more than 300 km on traditional batteries and an additional 300 km on energy from the hydrogen fuel cell.
ELECTRIC BUS ARP E-VEHICLES
The company currently offers three PILEA bus models, depending on length: 8.6m, 10m and 12m. Components for the production of the buses come 60% from Poland and the remaining 40% from the UK, EU countries and Canada and the USA.
The electric motor used in all bus models has been developed in PMSM technology (permanent magnet synchronous), which guarantees reliability and excellent performance (acceleration, efficiency and power sufficient to overcome even the steepest hills), while the energy recuperation system recovers energy during braking. This makes the bus economical to operate and consumes up to 30-40% less energy.
What distinguishes PILEA buses?
- designed by Polish engineers - from the very beginning as a zero-emission vehicle
- batteries located under the floor - excellent track stability
- lightweight construction - range increased by 10%
- energy recuperation system - additional 30-40% of energy
- full-length low floor - safety and comfort for passengers
- built-in charger - facilitates recharging in unforeseen situations
- innovative motors with modern pmsm technology (permanent magnet synchronous motor) - guarantee reliability and excellent performance
- extendable wheelchair ramp and bus kneeling system - comfortable boarding for the elderly and disabled
- electric or hydrogen propulsion - fuel costs reduced by up to about 70% compared to buses with diesel engines
A product that responds to the demand of local governments, which focus on improving the safety of youth transport. Currently, no domestic or foreign manufacturer operating on the Polish market offers a vehicle with similar parameters.
The vehicle has been designed in several variants which, depending on their specification and the type of technology used, are perfect for passenger transport in both urban and suburban conditions.
The urban version of the bus will be perfect for medium and light-duty routes, where the driver has a break of a few minutes to recharge the battery once the route is over (in the variant of the vehicle with the LTO battery technology, the recharging time is about 15 minutes).
