TMB buys 36 hydrogen buses for an amount of 23 million

The Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) network will have 36 new hydrogen-powered buses. The public company has just awarded the manufacturer Solaris Bus Ibérica the production of these new sustainable units for a total amount of 23.4 million euros. The purchase is financed with funds granted by the European Union's Next Generation plan. TMB thus takes another step forward in its goal of having 25% of its fleet be zero-emission by 2024, reducing the weight of diesel and hybrid vehicles.

Thus, next year it will already have 232 electric buses and 44 hydrogen buses, which will allow a reduction of 4,785 tons of CO₂ emissions and 22 tons of NOx emissions annually. "Barcelona needs more public and more sustainable transport, and TMB is working in this direction, both in the bus and metro networks," said TMB president, Laia Bonet.

With this acquisition, the company significantly increases the number of its hydrogen vehicles, of which it currently has 8 already in service on line X1. TMB was a pioneer in the use of hydrogen in public transport networks in Spain, launching the first bus of these characteristics in April 2022 in alliance with Iberdrola.

In parallel, TMB is investing in electric vehicles. During 2023, the purchase of a total of 88 electric night-charging buses, 68 standard and 20 articulated, has already been tendered, which will arrive between the end of this year and the beginning of 2024, and which have involved an investment of nearly 50 million. TMB's goal is to invest almost 410 million euros in the acquisition of clean energy vehicles until 2026, the largest figure in its history destined for the bus fleet. The challenge is that by 2030, 50% will be hydrogen and electric buses and the rest natural gas and hybrids. In 2010, 75% were diesel and 25% gas.