It will not be a coincidence that those responsible in Mainz and Wiesbaden step on the brakes and shift down a gear at the same time when it comes to the emission-free local transport in their cities that was once promised.
The goal of getting almost only clean battery or fuel cell buses on the road on the left and right of the Rhine as quickly as possible is not to be given up, they say in unison.
However, the fleet conversion will certainly not take place as quickly as originally thought.
Because there are only a few manufacturers and correspondingly long delivery times, and because the funding from the federal, state and European Union is far from being as full as it would be necessary to support the municipal transport companies with the expensive new purchases.
Diesel will probably be bought again
There is obviously a big gap between theory and practice, i.e. the Sunday speeches of politicians and the reality on the depots. In fact, the often criticized diesel engine, at least in the low-emission Euro 6 version, is currently the best choice when it comes to rapid fleet modernization. This is also true in Mainz, where in addition to 40 trams, almost 140 diesel buses are currently used in scheduled services, as well as in Wiesbaden, who are a little further along with the conversion to electrically powered vehicles despite a major contract that has failed.
The Mainz-based company has long understood how to produce green hydrogen from renewable excess electricity thanks to its own power-to-gas system.
And in Wiesbaden, in anticipation of the intended fleet conversion, a hydrogen filling station was opened in 2020.
Both are convincing projects, but they don't achieve much on their own as long as there is a lack of fuel cell buses.
And since battery buses are also in high demand, modern diesel models will probably not only be ordered in Mainz and Wiesbaden for the time being.