The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) is supporting “Hülsmann Verwaltungs GmbH/ Reisefreunde GmbH & Co. KG” in the procurement of climate-friendly buses. A total of 23 battery buses will be procured with funds from the first bus funding call amounting to around 5.4 million euros. Furthermore, the development of the charging and maintenance infrastructure will be supported with about 2.1 million euros: The company will build 26 new charging stations and 5 transformer stations with a capacity of 1 MW each.
The funding is provided within the scope of the “Guideline for the Promotion of Alternative Drives for Buses in Passenger Transport” (“Richtlinie zur Förderung alternativer Antriebe von Bussen im Personenverkehr”). Funding for this measure is also provided as part of the German Recovery and Resilience Plan (DARP – Deutscher Aufbau- und Resilienzplan) through the European Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ).
Karl Hülsmann, Managing Director: “We are extremely pleased that this funding gives us the opportunity to make public transport in rural areas even more environmentally friendly and appealing. Without this funding, it would not be possible for us to replace diesel buses with electric buses. And even with this funding, it will not be possible for us to operate the electric buses at the same cost as the diesel buses. We already have the first buses in use in intercity public transport. Without intermediate charging, we are currently driving routes of about 360 km with the buses and still have a residual battery capacity of approximately 25%.”
Source: Hülsmann Verwaltungs GmbH/ Reisefreunde GmbH & Co. KG
Image credits: MAN