Photo: Electric-bus-Hamburg-news
Hamburg invests in charging infrastructure for electric vehicles
28 February 2018
by Nick Michell
The German Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) is providing €8.6 million in funding for a pilot project to improve the charging infrastructure in bus depots in Hamburg.
Around €6.4 million will go to Hochbahn, the underground and bus system operator in Hamburg, to fund energy supply and the charging infrastructure for six carports in the Gleisdreick bus depot. The project is aiming to find a solution that can be adapted by transport authorities across Germany.
“The Hamburg pilot project is unique in that to date no bus depot has been designed to supply a pure battery bus fleet,” a spokesperson from the German Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, told Cities Today. “The necessary connection directly to the high- and medium-voltage network is a major innovation for the supply of a bus depot, due to the high [amounts of] power required.”
As part of the initiative Hamburg-Holstein GmbH (VHH), a bus transport company, will receive €1.8 million for the equipment of the Bergedorf bus depot. From 2020, both Hochbahn und VHH will purchase only emission-free buses and gradually convert all 1,500 buses in the fleet. For this, all bus depots must be completely equipped with the requirements of electric vehicles, including the charging infrastructure for the new buses.
The Helmut Schmidt University will receive €400,000 for accompanying scientific research on the retrofitting project to ensure transferability to other public and private transport companies.
“The university ensures independent scientific monitoring of the projects,” added the spokesperson. “Here, the chosen electrification solutions are compared during the removal or retrofitting of bus infrastructure for the supply of a fully battery-electric bus fleet. In addition, the transferability of findings and results should be ensured.”
The project will run until the end of 2019 and look to contribute to improving urban air quality, while strengthening electric mobility in Hamburg.
