Diesel-powered vehicles continue to dominate public transit fleets across Germany’s largest urban areas, accounting for 70 percent of transit buses in the 39 biggest cities according to a study by the Deutsche Umwelthilfe. When mild hybrid systems that assist internal combustion engines during acceleration and overtaking are included, that fossil fuel-dependent share rises to 77 percent. The findings, which were provided to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Berlin, highlight a profound divide in municipal climate policies as transport operators weigh the infrastructural costs of transitioning to zero-emission fleets.
Mannheim Leads Baden-Württemberg Fleet Conversions
While the national average remains heavily tilted toward diesel, several municipal authorities have made significant headway in adopting battery-powered electric buses. The environmental organization highlights three cities in Baden-Württemberg as national leaders in the transition. Mannheim leads the rankings with 60.6 percent of its bus fleet operating on battery electric power at the turn of the year, followed by Freiburg at 51.7 percent and Karlsruhe at 51.6 percent. All three municipal operators have committed to procuring exclusively electric buses for any future fleet additions through 2030.
Magdeburg and Augsburg Among Cities Lacking Battery Buses
At the opposite end of the spectrum, multiple major cities entered the year with zero classic battery-electric buses in their active fleets. Magdeburg, Krefeld, Wuppertal, Essen, and Augsburg landed on the bottom of the survey rankings for battery adoption. However, the absence of battery-electric vehicles does not uniformly mean a total reliance on standard diesel engines. In Wuppertal, for instance, hydrogen fuel cell buses account for roughly one-sixth of the local transit fleet, operating via a fuel cell that generates electricity from stored hydrogen. Across all 39 cities surveyed, hydrogen fuel cell technology accounts for just 1.5 percent of total vehicles, according to data from the Deutsche Umwelthilfe.
Augsburg Defends Purchases of Biogas Alternatives
The environmental organization singled out Augsburg for criticism over its transit authority’s ongoing procurement of combustion-engine vehicles ahead of 2030 targets. Augsburg ranked last in the evaluation because roughly two-thirds of its recent bus acquisitions involved internal combustion models. A spokesperson for the Augsburg municipal utility explained that the organization purchased 30 new biogas buses to replace aging vehicles because the buildout of infrastructure required for a full electric transition cannot proceed quickly enough to meet immediate replacement needs. Meanwhile, Chemnitz, which was also queried as one of Germany’s 40 largest cities, did not provide a response to the survey.
Health Risks and Regulatory Friction Over Fossil Fuels
Jürgen Resch, federal managing director of the Deutsche Umwelthilfe, warned that diesel buses typically remain in active urban service for more than a decade, meaning cities purchasing new combustion models up to 2030 will effectively delay the elimination of fossil-fueled transit well into the 2040s. He noted that nearly 10,000 diesel buses currently operate across the 40 surveyed cities, emitting nitrogen dioxide that degrades urban air quality. The organization has called on municipal transit operators to halt the purchase of new combustion buses and achieve complete electrification by 2030, arguing that technically suitable diesel models can be retrofitted for electric propulsion. At the same time, the organization criticized federal plans to scale back funding programs designated for alternative-drive bus acquisitions.
