Hamburger Hochbahn awards contract for 530 e-buses

Hamburger Hochbahn has now published the list of suppliers for the procurement of up to 530 electric buses to be delivered in the years 2021-2025. Daimler Buses, MAN and Solaris were awarded the contract.

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Framework agreements are now being concluded with all three manufacturers to regulate the supply of emission-free solo and articulated battery-electric buses. This will also include a number with solid batteries.

The contract award, which was the result of a tender put out in September last year, also defines the technical specifications of the battery buses. Depending on the manufacturer, the guaranteed range without intermediate charging or recharging is between 150-200 kilometres for articulated buses and up to 270 kilometres for solo buses.

Daimler Buses will supply the purely electric eCitaro and also the eCitaro G articulated bus. Solaris will supply the Urbino 12 electric and the Urbino 18 electric. The models that Solaris will be delivering to Hamburg will both be equipped with Solaris High Energy+ batteries with a high capacity and the engines integrated into the drive axle. Judging by the current portfolio at MAN, the German company will be using the Lion’s City E, which is also available as an articulated bus version.

While the deal has been officially announced, the total number of units which the Hochbahn will call up from the individual manufacturers has not yet been finally determined. “As early as 2021 and 2022, significantly more than 140 battery buses are to be called up under the contract,” the Hochbahn stated in a press release.

In the context of the tender, however, Hochbahn also requested detailed information on sustainability and risk reduction measures along the entire supply chain. The inquiry extended to the extraction of raw materials with a particular focus on battery evaluation. Hochbahn is also striving to develop and harmonise European sustainability criteria for procuring battery-electric buses.

This year Hochbahn has begun ordering exclusively emission-free powered buses. The company’s strategy is based on two pillars. In addition to using battery-powered buses, Hochbahn also wants to purchase fuel cell buses. To this end, the public transport provider has launched a tender for 50 fuel cell vehicles for 2021 to 2025. This will enable Hochbahn to position its technology portfolio to phase-out diesel buses and phase in zero-emission vehicles by the decade’s end. The Hamburg Senate played a part in the plan since it stipulated that only emission-free buses may be purchased in the northern German port city after 2020.

There are currently 30 electric buses in operation with Hochbahn, and another 30 are expected by the end of the year.

Update 17 December 2020

Solaris has announced the first firm order under the above framework agreement between Hamburger Hochbahn and three manufacturers for 530 electric buses. The Polish manufacturer will initially deliver five electric solo and five articulated vehicles to Hamburg by October 2021. According to the signed contract, the electric buses are scheduled to arrive in Hamburg in October 2021.

Update 02 August 2022

As part of the above framework agreement, Hamburger Hochbahn has now taken delivery of its 100th Mercedes-Benz eCitaro. Ten more eCitaro buses are en route. Counting these in, Hamburger Hochbahn’s fleet comprises 83 solo, and 27 are on order for the current and the coming year.

According to Daimler Truck, the buses include the first models with the upcoming ‘NMC3 batteries’ for long ranges without recharging. Once delivered, Hamburger Hochbahn will have taken part in all development steps of the eCitaro and has all battery generations in operation from NMC1 to NMC3 as well as the first solid-state batteries, according to Daimler Truck.

solarisbus.com, daimler.com and press release via email, solarisbus.com (update Dec’20), daimlertruck.com (update Aug ’22)