The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) is as of now funding two pilot projects in Hamburg to convert public transport to electric mobility.
Specifically the projects consist of building a new bus depot for deploying a purely battery-electric bus fleet as well as the retrofitting of an existing bus depot for accommodating e-busses. The three project partners – Hamburger Hochbahn AG, the Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein GmbH and the Helmut Schmidt University – are receiving 8.6 million in total for these projects. The funding comes from the federal government’s Mobility and Fuel Strategy. NOW GmbH is supporting the BMVI in the further development of the strategy.
For the first time, bus depots for the large-scale accommodation of a pure battery bus fleet will be constructed within the Hamburg pilot projects. A direct connection to the medium or high-voltage network is required for this. Storage batteries from recycled vehicle batteries are to be used for the retrofitting projects as part of energy management –so-called “2nd Life battery use”. In this way a resource-efficient energy supply for the battery bus fleet can be secured in demand peaks during overnight charging. Both Hamburg pilot projects are set up to run for two to three years.
The independent scientific assessment provided by the Helmut Schmidt University will compare the chosen electrification solutions and evaluate them as well as ensure that the results can be generalised.