Clean Fleets is organising a series of four European workshops to demonstrate how procurement of clean and energy-efficient vehicles is done in practice, to exchange and learn from each others’ experiences.

The first of these workshops is going to focus on clean bus procurement and will take place in Bremen, Germany from 11-12 December 2013. The workshop will present experiences from different cities and discuss topics such as:

• Clean Bus Procurement – objectives of operators and authorities
• What are clean buses? – Comparison of technology options, e.g. diesel Euro V and VI, CNG, LNG, hydrogen, fuel-cell, hybrids
• Towards more electrification – how is this reflected in the CVD/ Life Cycle Costing approach?

During a half-day study visit, participants will see the Bremen concept of sustainable mobility in practice.

The workshop is open to public authorities and fleet operators in Europe, and other relevant stakeholders. It is free of charge, however online registration is required.

For more information and a draft agenda, visit the workshop page.

Workshop: Clean bus procurement
11-12 December 2013
Bremen, Germany

A preliminary report on fuel and technology options for clean buses is now under consultation until 24^th October. All interested parties should write to in order to contribute ideas and suggestions.

The aim of this draft report is to bring together input from Clean Fleets partners, public authorities, transport operators and other experts as part of a dedicated working group focused on buses. The working group has explored the experiences of public transport providers across Europe with various fuels and technology types for buses during trials, demonstrations and as part of daily use.

A webinar will take place from 10:00-12:00 (CEST) on 12^th November to discuss the results of this consultation process. At the webinar, we will discuss all suggestions and ideas in order to be able to effectively develop the final report on technology and fuel options for clean buses. The webinar is also open to interested parties. If you would like to participate in the webinar, please contact by 8^th November.

Clean Fleets is organising a series of workshops at the national level in several European countries. These workshops provide a platform for exchange of good practice, and provide guidance and training on the implementation of the Clean Vehicles Directive.

The first of these national workshops took place on 3rd October in Valladolid, Spain. It was organised by Clean Fleets project partner Palencia. The workshop focused on the implementation of the Clean Vehicles Directive with a particular view to Life Cycle Costing in theory and practice.

The workshop was well received with participants indicating that the programme connected closely to their daily work. Budget constraints and a lack of funding were repeatedly mentioned as the biggest obstacles to clean vehicle procurement.

Further workshops are planned in the following countries:

• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Germany
• The Netherlands
• Romania
• Spain
• Sweden
• The UK

For an overview of the planned events, visit the national workshops page.

PT operator Wiener Linien decided to create a zero-emission zone in the historic centre with low emissions in the wider centre. Viennese buses, which all used to be powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), are therefore gradually being substituted by diesel, hybrid and electric buses.

To this end, Vienna has purchased 12 electric micro buses for the city centre. As it would have been difficult to obtain a planning and building permit for new power lines or charging stations in the historic environment, Vienna decided to use the extensive existing network of overhead tram power lines to recharge the buses.

However, this required the development of new technology. The buses recharge at their end stations by hooking up to the overhead lines of the Viennese tram using an extendable pantograph, an arm on the roof.

Read the full case study (pdf)