EMT, the public transport company responsible for services across Madrid, has announced that the city’s last diesel-powered bus has completed its final journey, making it the first major European city to have its entire fleet run on 100% clean energy.
In 2020, mayor Jose Luis Martínez-Almeida made a promise that no municipal bus powered by fossil fuels would travel the streets of the city after 2023.
Some 1,291 new and clean buses were acquired to renew 60% of the fleet in a joint effort between Madrid City Council and the Municipal Transport Company of Madrid (EMT).
EMT reports that its 100% clean fleet is now made up of 1,915 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses and 180 electric buses.
This year, the company plans on introducing its first 10 hydrogen buses and another 150 new electric ones.
A total of 5,009 diesel buses have circulated through the streets of the city, according to the records of the municipal company, which span from 1974 until 2012, when the last diesel generation was integrated into the Madrid fleet.