From mid-2025, the electric buses in Vienna’s city centre will be replaced by new fuel cell buses. It’s a stark opening, that of the press release sent out by Wiener Linien on 29th July. Stark because it implies a change of direction compared to what done so far (and to what is common all over around Europe), i.e. the use of BEV technology specifically for inner city routes.
Following a Europe-wide tender, Wiener Linien states it is investing in ten new minibuses from the Italian manufacturer Rampini. These are the Hydron model powered by both hydrogen and electricity and are the first minibuses to utilise this technology. They will replace the purely electric buses on lines 2A and 3A, also provided by Rampini, “which have reached their mechanical limits”, the operator states.
Wiener Linien to deploy also CaetanoBus fuel cell buses
Wiener Linien opened a new competence centre for electromobility in February of this year, and six bus routes have now been converted to purely electric drives, with 30 twelve-metre-long Mercedes eCitaro in operation (they’ll be 60 at the end of the supply). In 2025, pure hydrogen buses will also be used alongside the new range extender minibuses from Rampini. Also ten buses from Portuguese manufacturer CaetanoBus, 12-meter long, will be travelling on route 39A, following a tender awarded in February 2024.
The new buses will be refuelled and charged at an H2 filling and charging station operated by Wien Energie and Wiener Netze. Green hydrogen produced locally in Vienna will be used.
What is quite interesting, before the tender awarded to CaetanoBus, Wiener Linien had a Solaris fuel cell bus in pilot and a deal for a 10-units purchase. But, according to media reporting, Wiener Linien explained that Solaris’s hydrogen buses did not meet their expectations, while Solaris, on the other hand, stated that it was their decision to withdraw from the business.
