Vienna prepares to replace commercial vehicle fleet with EVs

In its decarbonisation efforts, Vienna is turning to commercial vehicles and targets replacing 1,245 ICEs. The city government has slated 56 million euros to procure zero-emission waste management and other vehicles over the next eight years.

The Stadtwerke Group (utility) and the Waste Management, Street Cleaning and Vehicle Fleet Department (MA 48) have now concluded a framework agreement to this effect. They target procuring 1,245 electric vehicles and utilise synergies and price advantages.

The turn to the commercial vehicle segment follows earlier advances. The City of Vienna announced in April 2022 that it would no longer procure any new petrol or diesel vehicles for the municipal vehicle fleet from 2025 – with possible exceptions for special vehicles for which there are no CO2-free alternatives.

“As Wiener Stadtwerke, we have already converted a remarkable 36 per cent of our passenger cars to electric. Now it’s the commercial vehicles’ turn,” said Peter Weinelt, Director General of the infrastructure company owned by the Vienna government.

The Group started trialling 23 commercial EVs to test their suitability last year, and these have become a part of the 176-strong fleet. The Group has yet to detail the type of vehicles in use, but images show Mercedes vans, among others.

“We currently have 176 light commercial vehicles in the 48-vehicle fleet, 23 of which are already e-vehicles. We are working on gradually increasing this number over the next few years,” added Josef Thon, Head of Department at MA 48. “Working together to drive forward the transition for light commercial vehicles is smart; that’s why we’re doing it.”

“Thanks to the collaboration between the teams of experts at Wiener Stadtwerke and MA48, we can now draw on the collective experience of all the city’s fleet professionals,” added Hermann Nebel, Managing Director of Wiener Netze, the city’s electricity distributor.

The city-owned utility is also expanding the charging stations in the city and at the companies. “We are also following suit in training: Here at Wiener Netze, all vehicle mechanics have already completed further training in the repair of electric vehicles,” added Director General Weinelt.

wien.gv.at (in German)