The city of Kiel is planning the switch to electricity of KVG’s bus fleet (which consists of around 175 buses). KVG is a subsidiary of the municipality. In this regard, a few days ago the mayor Ulf Kämpfer presented a strategy paper. He estimates a first investment of 43.3 million euros, reports the local newspaper Kieler Nachrichten. The plan includes the purchase of 17 diesel hybrid buses and, indeed, 36 full electric buses. Plus the charging infrastructure, ça va sans dire. Reportedly, the mayor expects that the investment for the additional vehicles will be subsidized up to 80 percent and those for the charging infrastructure up to 40 percent. The procurement is not related to a project financed by European Union funds. The delivery of 30 vehicles is expected between August and December 2010, while the last 6 buses will be supplied by May 2021.
Many cities in Germany are increasingly implementing diesel bans in order to lower the CO2 and particulate pollutions. In August 2018, the Federal Ministry of Transport pledged a total of 125 million euros for the implementation of projects dedicated to the improvement of air quality. Also discount on public transport tickets are included among the measures taken in order to convince citizens to use collective transportation instead of private cars. The priority, anyway, Wirtschaftswoche reports, is the conversion of public transport to electric bus. The German weekly magazine has carried out a survey involving local public transport companies in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt, i.e. the five largest German cities. The outcome? They are planning to purchase at least 3,000 electric buses by 2030.
