GERMANS WANT TO STIMULATE THE USE OF HYBRID BUSES IN THE LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSPORT
The German minister of the Environment Sigmar Gabriel recently launched the project "Hybrid Buses for an environmentally friendly public transport", as part of an initiative by the ministry to protect the climate by using modern hybrid buses with state-of-the-art technology in the public domain.
As a first step public and private operators are invited to show their interest in this venture by issuing ideas about how to integrate at least ten of such vehicles in an environmental friendly public transport in their region. For the best ideas a governmental grant from the environmental innovation program of the Ministry is available. The technical level of the buses which are selected for this project has to fulfil at least the EEV emission rules; in addition diesel buses need to be equipped with a particulate filter and NOx reduction system. Fuel consumption should be reduced with at least 20 percent, compared with buses with a conventional driveline, and the noise level should be low. Transportation companies, which want to participate, should send their plans and calculations to the Ministry before September 12, 2008.