Poland saw a surge in sales for its electric buses, making it the biggest exporter of these vehicles in the entire European Union, according to the analysis of experts from the Polish Economic Institute (PIE).
The PIE’s report includes data showing the market for vehicles powered by alternative energy sources has become more resilient to the pandemic than combustion engine vehicles. In fact, the sale of electric cars rose during the pandemic whereas the sales of conventional cars decreased.
PIE pointed out that Poland has benefited much from the increase in popularity of electric vehicles and public transportation. Poland’s position in the export of electric buses in the European Union has increased from 10 percent in 2017 to 46 percent in the first 10 months of 2020, helping Poland overtake Belgium for the top spot, which currently represents 36 percent of total EU exports. Czechia only has 7 percent of export share, whereas Germany has only 4 percent, and the Netherlands only 2 percent.
PIE believes that the growing demand for non-emission vehicles due to EU climate policy will be highly beneficial to Polish manufacturers of electric buses.
“The European Green Order and planned support for recovery after the pandemic are putting pressure on electro-mobility in the sphere of transport,” PIE stated. “The share of electric vehicles in the world fleet of city buses will reach 47 percent by 2025 as forecasted.”
Poland has been specializing in the production and export of electric buses for several years, with many companies producing the vehicles in the country, including Solaris, Volvo and MAN Truck and Bus.
Moreover, PIE noted that hydrogen buses will also make gains in the next few years. Since the release in 2019 of the first hydrogen bus in Poland by Solaris, the manufacturer has received orders for 57 such buses.
One producer working for Solaris has received orders for more than 1,000 electric vehicles so far. The company has also produced and sold that amount by mid-November 2020.
In the period between January and November 2020, Polish manufacturers exported electric buses for a value of €213.4 million, a 50.7 percent increase from 2019.
In the first 11 months of 2020, Germany (36.9 percent) and Italy (35.2 percent) imported the most Polish buses in Europe. Compared to the same period in 2019, the value of Polish electric bus export quadrupled. Norway, Romania, Luxembourg, France, and Sweden are also among the more frequent buyers of Polish electric cars.
