The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV – Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr) is entering the third round of funding for the changeover to buses with alternative drive systems and the necessary refuelling and charging infrastructure required for their operation. From 20.06.2023, outlines for the procurement of climate-friendly buses can once again be submitted.
Federal Minister Dr. Volker Wissing: “To achieve our climate protection goals in the field of transport, we need CO2-neutral technologies. Public transport plays a central role here. Our funding support programme will put around 5,000 clean buses on the roads in the coming years. This will bring us significantly closer to our goal: By 2030, every second city bus should be electric.”
Funding will be provided for:
- The procurement of buses with alternative drives: These include battery buses (incl. battery trolley buses), fuel cell buses (incl. buses with fuel cells as range extenders) and biomethane buses.
- The conversion from conventional to alternative drive systems.
- The charging, refuelling and maintenance infrastructure required for operation.
Outlines of the project can be submitted from 20.06.2023 to 10.09.2023 via the easy-Online application platform.
The central criteria for consideration in the application process will include:
- The climate protection contribution (taking into account the expected CO2 avoidance).
- The context of use of the buses (public transport, other transport).
- Electrification share of the total fleet in the operator’s fleet (share to be converted to alternative drives, taking into account current and expected shares of buses with alternative drives).
- Also taken into account are the necessary funding requirements.
The submitted project outlines will be considered separately for the different drive systems, whereby there will be an upper limit on the amount of funding to be applied for per project. Further details can be found in the funding call document.
With the guideline for the funding of alternative drives for buses in passenger transport, the BMDV has been supporting the market activation and the market ramp-up of buses with climate-friendly, alternative drives since September 2021. The funding is awarded in a competitive procedure.
The guideline was filed with the EU Commission with a total funding volume amounting to 1.75 billion euros. Part of the funds will be made available through the European Reconstruction and Resilience Facilities (ARF – Aufbau- und Resilienzfazilitäten) within the framework of the German Reconstruction and Resilience Plan (DARP – Deutscher Aufbau- und Resilienzplan).
According to preliminary estimates, the BMDV guideline will enable around 5,000 buses with alternative drives to be put on the roads. The funding potential of the first calls is slightly more than 4,000 buses at around 120 transport companies. According to current calculations, this means that the current total number of buses with electric drives will more than triple in the coming years. Together with the feasibility studies, which are also eligible for funding, more than 250 transport companies are currently being supported.
Online seminar on the funding call
In an online seminar on 6 July 2023 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., we will go into detail about the contents of the new funding call together with NOW GmbH and Project Management Jülich (PtJ). You will also have the opportunity to ask questions. Register here.
Applicant can find more detailed information at: