Nickel and the humankind have a longtime partnership: the use of the metal has been traced as far back as 3500 B.C. Cities are ditching fossil fuels fast – typically starting with their own public transport fleets – and they want more zero-emission buses ASAP. Some bus-makers are stepping up, with Daimler and MAN, for example, pledging that all their new urban buses will be zero emission by 2030.
If demand continues along its current growth path, European cities will want 100% of new urban buses to be zero-emission by 2026. The missing ingredient is an EU law that matches demand through a requirement on manufacturers to only supply zero-emission buses.
Later this year the European Commission will publish a proposal to cut emissions from both new buses and trucks. This is the right tool to align buses with the Green Deal ambition and deliver an increasing supply of vehicles that drastically reduce emissions and air pollution.
We are advocating for a 100% sales target for zero emission urban buses in 2027. That would put Europe in a similar territory to California where all new urban buses must be zero emission from 2029.