German e-bus subsidy program hits 1,000 milestone with Hamburg deal

London — Germany's government is now supporting over 1,000 new electric buses for public transport operators with a total Eur620 million ($730 million) in subsidies, the environment ministry said July 31.

The Hamburg transport authorities received Eur47 million support for 96 new e-buses, accounting for 80% of the additional costs of an e-bus compared to a conventional diesel bus as well as 40% of the new charging infrastructure, it said.

State Secretary Jochen Flasbart said electro-mobility and public transport were the two central elements for climate protection in the transport sector to achieve legally binding emissions targets by 2030.

The federal environment ministry is now supporting over 1,000 e-buses with more to come later this year.

The biggest single projects were currently Wiesbaden (120), Berlin (120), Osnabrueck (62) Nuremberg (52) and Hanover (48), it said.

Germany's existing fleet of over 50,000 public urban transport buses was emitting some 4 million mt/year in CO2 emissions, according to a report.

German transport emissions cuts have been lagging behind other sectors such as electricity with 2018 transport emissions of 162 million mt CO2 barely below 1990 levels.

For 2030, the climate law set a target of 95 million mt for transport.