The Mannheim Institute for Sustainable Energy Studies (MISES) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) won the contract to scientifically support the conversion of the bus fleet during the course of the project. While the KIT will focus on the technical design for the conversion, the MISES will analyze its economic efficiency based on life-cycle costs. The Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg funds the subproject at the University of Mannheim with 504,000 euros. The subproject is part of the initiative “Strategic Dialogue for the Automotive Sector” which is funded by the state government with a total of 20 million euros.
The first step for the team led by professor Stefan Reichelstein and assistant professor Gunther Glenk will be to develop a conceptual framework for evaluating the competitiveness of city buses and bus fleets with alternative drive technologies. The study especially focuses on analyzing buses that combine battery drives and fuel cells to better meet the requirements of challenging routes. The research project’s empirical findings will be prepared so that they can serve as practical recommendations for other cities who also plan to turn their back on fossil fuels and equip their bus fleets with CO2-free drive technologies.