Solaris to deliver ten more trolleybuses to Saint-Étienne in 2027
Saint-Étienne Métropole is expanding its trolleybus fleet with ten Solaris Trollino 18 articulated buses, each scheduled for delivery at the end of 2027. A total of 41 Solaris trolleybuses will then be operational in the French city. Thanks to onboard batteries, the new buses can also travel on sections of road without overhead lines.
Image: Solaris
Polish manufacturer Solaris has signed another contract with Saint-Étienne Métropole. The public transport authority in the Loire department has ordered ten articulated Trollino 18 trolleybuses through the Centrale d’Achat de Transport Public (CATP), a central procurement body for French public transport. The buses are scheduled for delivery at the end of 2027 and will operate alongside the existing Solaris vehicles already in service. The company has not disclosed the value of the order in its press release.
The partnership between Solaris and the French city dates back to 2019. Back then, Saint-Étienne ordered 22 Trollino 12 buses under a contract valued at €17 million euros, including an option for two additional vehicles. This was the first trolleybus order Solaris received from France. The drivetrain was supplied by Škoda. Even then, auxiliary batteries with over 40 kWh enabled short sections to be operated without overhead lines. In the following years, 23 of the 12-metre solo buses were delivered. In 2025, eight articulated Trollino 18 buses were added. With this new delivery, the Solaris fleet in Saint-Étienne will grow to a total of 41 vehicles, including 18 articulated buses.
The new buses: details and specs
The new Trollino 18 buses are 18 metres long and have a power output of 250 kW. In normal operation, they draw power from the overhead lines via two poles on the roof. Additionally, they are equipped with onboard batteries, enabling them to operate on sections without overhead wires. The industry refers to this as in-motion charging: the bus charges while driving under the wires. Away from the wires, it runs on battery power. This offers a significant advantage for cities, as they do not need to equip every street with poles and wires and can extend routes without immediately building new overhead lines. However, Solaris has not disclosed the battery size or the range of the new buses without overhead lines.
The buses no longer have external mirrors; their function is taken over by cameras. They also feature a range of assistance systems: a system monitors whether the driver is fatigued or distracted, an intelligent speed assistant helps maintain speed limits, a lane-change assistant supports lane changes, and a detection function alerts the driver to pedestrians and cyclists. Additionally, the remote diagnostics system eSConnect allows operators to continuously monitor the fleet’s condition remotely and plan maintenance accordingly.
Competition from China
This order comes at a time when competition from China is intensifying for Solaris. In the ICCT ranking for the first quarter of 2026, Yutong held a market share of around 15 per cent for zero-emission buses in the EU, narrowly ahead of Solaris. This marked the first time a Chinese manufacturer led the International Council on Clean Transportation’s rankings.
Solaris is now focused on increasing production capacity: in June, the manufacturer opened a new final assembly hall in Środa Wielkopolska near Poznań, enabling additional production of around 500 buses per year. The goal is to reach 2,000 vehicles annually. In 2025, Solaris delivered 1,631 buses, of which 86 per cent were low-emission or zero-emission, including battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and trolleybuses. The company is part of the Spanish rail vehicle manufacturer CAF, and the buses are developed and built in Poland.