The journey to greener bus journeys
A vision becomes reality. At the end of 2018, the first production-ready electric bus rolled through Hamburg. In summer 2020, we were awarded the contract in Germany's largest tender to date for up to 530 electric buses. Since then, manufacturers Daimler Buses, Solaris and MAN Truck & Bus have been supplying solo and articulated battery buses to Hamburg. Almost 300 new zero-emission HOCHBAHN buses are already in service in Hamburg (as of the end of 2024). Since summer 2021, the first zero-emission articulated buses have also been in service for HOCHBAHN, offering space for around 100 passengers. Depending on operating conditions, they can cover distances of almost 200 kilometres – saving an average of around 80 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to a diesel bus.
We’re investing in hydrogen too
And that is why we are also focussing on fuel cell buses as a strategic option. Five production-ready buses are to roll through the city for the time being - 12-metre-long solo buses from the Polish manufacturer Solaris of the Urbino 12 hydrogen type for up to 70 passengers. The first of these buses arrived in Hamburg in February 2025. The buses, which have a range of 350 kilometres, are refuelled at a public hydrogen filling station near Hamburg Airport.
The five vehicles are subsidised by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) with 80 percent of the additional investment costs compared to comparable diesel buses. HOCHBAHN had successfully participated in a call for funding from the BMDV.
Even though the majority of the climate-friendly HOCHBAHN fleet will be battery-powered, the fuel cell remains a strategic option for us. We have been travelling with them on the 109 innovation line since 2014 and have gained important experience.
How sustainable are e-buses really?
We don’t just want transport around Hamburg to be free of harmful emissions. We also want to be part of a much wider global movement. In the tender for e-buses, which will come to completion in 2020 and be the largest to date in Germany, we also applied sustainability criteria when awarding the contract. The flip side of climate-friendly electromobility is that battery-powered vehicles are being criticised for the potential negative ecological and social impact from production of the batteries required.
The dilemma is that there is no standard certificate for a sustainably produced battery to date. We therefore wanted to know more from the bus manufacturers in the tender than just the sustainability performance at the bus production plant. We demand full transparency with respect to human rights due diligence relating to supplier management, and especially in the early stages of the value chain of the battery, as far back as the sourcing and extraction of raw materials. This way we’re aiming to achieve transparency all the way back to the production of cells.
Incidentally, the electricity we use for our e-buses is 100 per cent certified green electricity.
Click here to find out more about sustainable supply chains at HOCHBAHN.
Sustainability also a focus for our diesel buses
Depending on the vehicle type, our current buses will be taken out of service one to three years later than planned. This is HOCHBAHN's response to the significantly longer service life of vehicles, as is also evident in the passenger car sector. In future, buses will be used for up to 15 years. All diesel buses still in service will be converted to HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oils) as a transitional solution from 2026 onwards. The conversion will be completed in 2029.
