The mobility service provider of the state capital Wiesbaden, ESWE Verkehr, launched a Europe-wide tender for ten fuel cell buses in June 2020. Offers were received and evaluated on the basis of a predetermined catalogue of criteria.
Following the evaluation and conclusion of the tendering procedure, the Portuguese vehicle manufacturer CaetanoBus S.A. was awarded the contract with its “H2.City Gold” model. The first vehicle will be delivered in the third quarter of 2021, and the remaining vehicles by the end of November 2021. These emission-free fuel cell buses constitute another important building block in the implementation of the clean air plan of the state capital of Wiesbaden.
The vehicles are being funded by the EU project, JIVE (Joint Initiative for Hydrogen Vehicles across Europe) in the amount of 1.95 million euros, specifically within the EU programme, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). Additional funding of a total of 1.68 million euros is provided by the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP) of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Projektträger Jülich (PTJ).
Further details on the buses can be obtained here: www.eswe-verkehr.de/brennstoffzellenbus.html