E-retrofitting can accelerate Europe’s bus fleet electrification by 15 years

Abstract Minimizing climate risks will require accelerating the energy transition on all levels and in all sectors. Replacing 1.4 billion fossil with electric road vehicles will, however, be a process spanning multiple decades. Expanding electric bus transit has the potential to reduce the demand for electric cars while needing little additional infrastructure. Yet, accelerating the electrification of public mobility is a challenge in itself. This paper explores the system-wide effect of applying the emerging strategy of e-retrofitting to Europe’s bus fleet. Diesel buses are thereby retrofitted with electric drive-trains, which reduces environmental impacts compared to the production of a new battery-electric bus. This strategy allows to accelerate bus fleet electrification by 15 years and to increase annual transport services by a maximum of 25%, all without the need to prematurely retire functioning buses. Applied across Europe, e-retrofitting buses can save greenhouse gas emissions up to 300 million tons CO <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mtext>e</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , generate jobs, offer business opportunities, reduce raw material demand, and requires minimal additional infrastructure.