The topic of electric mobility in public transport is also gaining ground in the East Westphalian city of Gütersloh, which has a population of 105,000: The first two electric buses arrived in Gütersloh a few days ago. They will be integrated into the regular city bus service with immediate effect – 14 more electric buses are set to follow in just a few weeks.
The first two vehicles were ceremoniously welcomed by the city bus staff and invited guests from the administration and politics. City bus managing director Dietmar Spohn: ‘In the medium term, we are aiming to completely convert our city bus fleet to climate-friendly drive technology.’ The goal is to have a purely electric bus fleet for Gütersloh by the mid-2030s. Over the next few months, Stadtbus Gütersloh GmbH is expecting a total of 16 electric buses from MAN – ten solo buses and six articulated buses. The buses are expected to have a range of around 350 km and are purely depot chargers with a battery capacity of 480 kWh for the solo bus and 640 kWh for the articulated bus. The solo buses can accommodate 73 passengers (33 seats and 40 standing places), while the articulated buses can accommodate 117 passengers (43 seats and 74 standing places).
With its investment in the fleet, which currently comprises a total of 38 buses, Stadtbus Gütersloh GmbH is focusing on sustainability: ‘Around 43 per cent of all kilometres travelled by city buses every day will be electric and climate-neutral in future with the 16 new buses,’ says Spohn. This means CO₂ savings of almost 800 tonnes per year. In addition, the vehicles are charged with 100 percent green electricity. By the end of this year, the city bus fleet will comprise 40 buses, including 16 electric buses, 12 hybrid buses and 12 conventional diesel vehicles.
Federal funding
In 2022, Stadtbus had already secured funding for the sustainable conversion of its bus fleet under the Federal Ministry of Transport’s funding guideline ‘Promotion of buses with climate-friendly, alternative drive systems in passenger transport’. The funding guideline was coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ). The subsidy amounted to around 4.67 million euros. The subsidy covers around 80 percent of the additional costs that would have been incurred in purchasing the 16 electric buses compared to purchasing the same number of diesel buses. The tender for the electric buses was issued in 2023 by Stadtbus Gütersloh GmbH throughout Europe.
Bus port offers its own charging infrastructure for city buses
Parallel to the procurement of the electric buses, Stadtbus Gütersloh GmbH has reached another milestone in climate-friendly mobility: over the past few months, a bus port with a powerful charging infrastructure has been built at its location on Robert-Bosch-Straße. With an area of around 1,200 square metres, it offers sufficient space to park and charge the 16 electric buses in future. The costs for the construction of the bus port, including the charging infrastructure and necessary workshop equipment, amount to around 4.5 million euros.
Here, too, a significant portion of the project’s investment costs was covered by subsidies amounting to around 1.7 million euros – in this case, via the Zweckverband Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (Westfalen-Lippe Local Transport Association – NWL) at the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. A photovoltaic system is also to be installed on the roof of the bus port before the end of this year. It will generate around ten percent of the total electricity required by the electric buses.
