Electric buses are increasingly being used in Saxony's local public transport system. The number of buses in use and the type of drive are not recorded centrally, the Ministry of Infrastructure announced in response to a dpa query. However, it is known that around 180 clean and emission-free buses were purchased by the companies between August 2021 and June 2025. "These are predominantly battery-powered."
Such buses are mainly on the road in cities, it said. However, the district of Zwickau will also be the first in the Free State to use e-buses in regional transport in future.
56 e-buses in the district of Zwickau
From this year, half of the buses in use there will be electric, according to the district administration office. There is talk of 56 e-buses. After a ramp-up phase, around 70 percent of the 4.1 million kilometers per year will be driven electrically in normal operation.
District Administrator Carsten Michaelis (CDU) sees his district as a nationwide pioneer in rural areas and speaks of a "lighthouse project for electromobility in regional transport". The buses are not only environmentally friendly, but also more economical to operate, emphasized the head of Regionalverkehr Westsachsen GmbH, André Jalowy.
With regard to the environmental balance, the Ministry of Infrastructure refers to studies according to which, depending on the electricity mix, buses powered by electricity produce 40 to 70 percent less CO2 over their entire life cycle than comparable diesel buses. "Regardless of the current state of the art, the aim is to reduce emissions to zero in the long term and completely dispense with fossil fuels."
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