German environmental aid criticizes the low proportion of electric buses in major German cities

The German Environmental Aid (DUH) is calling on German cities to increase the use of electric buses. In a comparison of the 40 largest cities in Germany, only in Mannheim, Freiburg and Karlsruhe did more than half of the buses run on battery electrics, the DUH said. The deadline for the survey was December 31, 2025.

Leipzig is the leader among East German cities with an electric quota of 19.6 percent. Dresden comes to around 11 percent, Halle to a good 6 percent and Erfurt to just under 4 percent. Magdeburg, on the other hand, is one of the bottom performers with an electric quota of zero - as are Augsburg, Essen and Wuppertal.

Overall, according to the information, almost 80 percent of the buses in the major cities surveyed still run on diesel engines. Almost half of the cities want to buy new combustion buses between 2026 and 2030.

In Erfurt there are still diesel buses with poor emissions standards

In Erfurt, diesel buses with emissions levels worse than Euro V are still in use in public transport, criticized the DUH. “Their nitrogen oxide emissions are many times higher than those of modern Euro VI vehicles. “Especially in densely populated city traffic, thousands of people are directly exposed to harmful exhaust gases.”

In Thuringia's state capital, more than every second new bus purchased in the coming years will still be a combustion engine. Halle, on the other hand, plans to only purchase combustion engine buses. According to the information, a good six percent of electric buses are currently on the road in the city on the Saale. Magdeburg stated that it was not planning any new purchases.