Chatrou grafiek

United Kingdom frontrunner in Europe in electrifying public bus fleet

10 August 2022

So far in 2022, new bus and coach registrations (GVW >3,5t) across the EU expanded by 2.8%, thanks to the strong boost provided in March and May, as ACEA reports. But the ACEA makes no difference in buses and coaches or whether it are diesel driven vehicles or with alternative drivelines. Wim Chatrou, owner of Chatrou CME Solutions consultancy agency, has collected these data. “The total for emission free city buses (GVW >8t) in Europe now is: 10.271 BEV-buses and 323 Hydrogen buses.”

CHatrou Cijfers 2 Q2 2021 - Q2 2022 (1)_01

With these numbers one can say public bus transport is really making the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable drivelines happening. Interesting to see is which country is the frontrunner in electrifying public bus transport. Not surprisingly it is the United Kingdom with a total of 350 registrations of electric buses in the first six months this year. On a total volume of 1768 electric city buses registered in Europe it means a share of 19,8%. Germany is second with a total of 246 electric buses (13,9%) and France is third with 236 e-buses (13,3%). Remarkable is the growth in Denmark, now in 4th place with 151 registrations (8,5%). Furthermore in Europe 885 hybrid buses were registered, 1747 CNG buses and 52 Fuel Cell buses adding up to a total of 4.452 buses with an alternative driveline being registered in the first half of 2022.

Chatrou cijfers landen

From 2012 to the second quarter of 2022 the total number of electric buses registered is 10.271. For this Chatrou CME Solutions has added up the number of buses in the 27 EU-members including the UK, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland (no figures were handed over by Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta). The UK is leading with a total of 1500 electric buses exactly (GVW >8t). Germany is still second with a total of 1474 buses and the Netherlands third with 1412 electric buses. This 10.271 electric buses were produced by a lot of different manufacturers. In this 10,5 year Solaris has a proven market leadership with a total of 1225 registered electric buses and they account for a market-share of 11,9%. Dutch VDL Bus & Coach is a close follower with a total of 1211 buses with a market share of 11,8%. BYD is third and registered in this period a total of 1187 buses (11,6%), mainly in combination with UK's ADL. The 679 “others” include many more manufacturers.

Chatrou Cijfers 4 Q2 2021 - Q2 2022 (1)_02

 Over the first six months this year VDL Bus & Coach is market leader with 242 registered electric buses. Runner up is BYD/Alexander Dennis with 221 electric buses. Yutong is third with 217 e-buses and Mercedes fourth with 205 e-buses. VDL has registered their e-buses as follows: 88 in the Netherlands, 82 in Norway (Oslo), 45 in Germany, 23 in Luxembourg and 4 in Italy.

Combined it tells us that 64,5% of all city buses in the 26 countries now have an alternative driveline. It is a definite increase were as this was 59,4% for the full year 2021 and 52,5% for the full year 2020. Zero emission buses (BEV + FC) have a share of 29,9% (29,0% + 0,9%). This was 22,8% for the full year 2021 and 15,1% for the full year 2020. Remarkable is the decrease of hybrid buses in 2022, caused by a shift to electric (Germany) or to CNG (Spain and Italy), were as the CNG-share in the interurban segment

further increased in the first half 2022. Last but not least is the driveline of the future as many seem to believe: hydrogen. Chatrou CME Solutions counted 52 hydrogen buses delivered in 2022 and that is more or less equal tot the volume in the first half of 2021. In total 323 hydrogen buses are running in Europe manufactured by 

CaetanoBus, Solaris, Van Hool and Wrightbus. Unfortunately the increase in the bus and coach market by 2,6% as ACEA reported does not apply to the city bus market in Europe. According to Chatrou CME Solutions this market dropped by 6%, in volume: 6019 units in the first six months of 2022 to 6401 units in the same period in 2021.