Federal Funding: 472 More Electric Buses in Hamburg

472 more electric city buses can soon be rolling on Hamburg's streets – made possible by federal funding of around 160 million euros, which Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing symbolically handed over as a "check for the future" to students of the Walddörfer Comprehensive School last Friday (April 1). With these funds, VHH and Hamburger Hochbahn can further secure the future of public transport. Hochbahn will receive 97.3 million euros in funding, while VHH will receive 59.7 million euros. The basis is the "Directive for the Promotion of Alternative Drives of Buses in Public Transport" from September 7, 2021. With these funds, Hochbahn can finance 289 emission-free buses (194 solo buses, 90 articulated buses, and 5 hydrogen fuel cell buses) and 481 charging stations. At VHH, 183 e-buses (117 solo buses, 57 articulated buses, and 9 minibuses) and around 210 charging stations are being funded. Additional funding is allocated for the conversion of workshops and the expansion of management systems for operational control.

472 additional Hamburg city buses will run electrically in the future – we are investing around 160 million euros for this. Because climate protection begins right at the doorstep – when boarding public transport. We need climate-neutral mobility for the people. We can only achieve this with the use of electric vehicles, to sustainably and permanently reduce emissions in traffic. Because buses, in particular, have an extremely high mileage in our inner cities, this is where we are focusing our funding. Our support contributes to up to 40% of the Hamburg city bus fleet being electrified in the coming years,” Wissing said.

Further funding notifications in the context of the first funding call are to be handed over at the Electromobility Specialist Conference of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) on April 7/8, 2022 in Berlin, according to the ministry.

Speeding into an Emission-Free Public Transport Future

Hamburg is committed to emission-free and climate-friendly public transport within the hvv. While the U- and S-Bahn trains have been running on certified green electricity for years, the Hamburg bus fleet is now being continuously converted to emission-free drives. The goal of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is to convert the entire bus fleet of nearly 1,800 vehicles to emission-free drives within this decade. Since 2020, Hochbahn and VHH have been ordering only e-buses for Hamburg.

Currently, over 160 of these buses are running in an environmentally and climate-friendly manner in the city. These include 135 solo buses, 30 articulated buses, and 2 minibuses. Technically, significant improvements have been made over the past two years: The range of a charge now extends from over 200 km (articulated buses) to 270 km (solo buses). This means that most inner-city bus routes can be covered with one charge.

Turning Point in the Workshop: More Roof Workstations

At the same time, manufacturers assume that they can guarantee even greater ranges in the foreseeable future. Besides procuring environmentally and climate-friendly buses, the necessary infrastructure for their operation is the second major challenge. The eight bus depots of Hochbahn and the 12 depots of VHH must be expanded with charging stations for e-bus operations. Currently, Hochbahn has 183 charging spots, and VHH has 64. Workshops are also experiencing a turning point. In addition to pits and lifting platforms, more roof workstations are now being built to work on components located on the roofs of the vehicles.

At the same time, with the increasing number of electric buses, new depots have to be built and existing locations converted. Hochbahn will start building the first depot fully dedicated to e-mobility in Meiendorf this summer, and an architectural competition is currently underway for the new construction of the first multi-story depot on the Veddel. VHH will install the most modern charging technology at its largest depot in Schenefeld by this summer, to be able to charge up to 80 e-buses simultaneously in the future. The conversion of other depots is also set to begin this year.