Germany, Flensburg breaks ground on €50 million electric bus depot for up to 70 e-buses

Stadtwerke Flensburg and its subsidiary Aktiv Bus have laid the foundation stone for a new electric bus depot designed to accommodate up to 70 e-buses, with more than €50 million being invested in the project.

The new facility is being built in Flensburg, a city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, close to the border with Denmark.

The foundation stone ceremony was held on 26 August 2026. The new facility is being developed on a site covering approximately 19,000 square metres and will provide charging, maintenance and operational infrastructure for the electrification of Flensburg’s urban bus services.

According to Stadtwerke Flensburg, the depot is designed to accommodate the requirements of the city’s entire urban bus operation once fully completed. Aktiv Bus currently operates 20 battery-electric articulated buses, with further electric bus procurement planned.

Flensburg electric bus depot to accommodate up to 70 e-buses

At full build-out, the new depot will provide capacity for up to 70 electric buses, including facilities for charging, maintenance and daily vehicle preparation.

Stadtwerke Flensburg is the developer and owner of the depot, including the bus workshop. Individual sections of the facility will be leased to subsidiary Aktiv Bus as they are completed.

The municipal utility is investing more than €50 million in the project. An additional €1.2 million in federal funding has been awarded under the bus funding programme of the former Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, now the Federal Ministry of Transport.

According to Stadtwerke Flensburg, the federal funding programme is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ).

Around 30 employees from Stadtwerke Flensburg and Aktiv Bus are directly involved in implementing the project, together with more than 20 planners and companies working on different parts of the development.

New Aktiv Bus workshop scheduled to enter operation in May 2027

The new bus workshop and the operations and staff building are scheduled to enter service in May 2027. The facility will become the workplace for approximately 230 Aktiv Bus employees.

The project will also replace Aktiv Bus’s existing depot in Flensburg’s Neustadt district. According to Stadtwerke Flensburg, the current site will be taken out of service after around 120 years of operation.

Aktiv Bus’s transition to electric propulsion is already under way, with 20 electric articulated buses currently in the fleet. Stadtwerke Flensburg states that additional electric buses are planned, although the announcement does not specify vehicle numbers, procurement schedules or technical specifications.

According to German trade publication electrive, Aktiv Bus’s current electric fleet consists of ten MAN Lion’s City 18 E and ten Mercedes-Benz eCitaro G articulated buses, all commissioned in 2024. The publication reports that Aktiv Bus Managing Director Paul Hemkentokrax said funding has already been applied for to procure 17 additional electric buses over the next three years, which would bring the fleet to 37 vehicles if the procurement proceeds.

In brief

• How many electric buses will the new Flensburg depot accommodate?
  The facility is designed for up to 70 electric buses at full build-out.
• How much is being invested in the project?
  Stadtwerke Flensburg is investing more than €50 million, with €1.2 million in federal funding.
• How many electric buses does Aktiv Bus currently operate?
  The operator currently has 20 battery-electric articulated buses in its fleet.
• When will the new facilities open?
  The bus workshop and operations and staff building are scheduled to enter service in May 2027.

Julian Wollscheidt, Chairman of the Management Board of Stadtwerke Flensburg, said: “With the construction of the new depot, we are creating the conditions for reliable public transport on a fossil-free basis and thus an important building block for climate-neutral urban transport. We are therefore investing not only in buildings and technology, but very specifically in the future of mobility in Flensburg.”

Karsten Müller-Janßen, Technical Managing Director of Stadtwerke Flensburg, added: “We are creating a high-performance infrastructure here that will meet the requirements of modern, electrified bus transport over the long term.”

Linus Petersen, Deputy Operations Manager at Aktiv Bus, said: “We are getting a future-proof and modern new home for our operations. This creates the basis for continuing to provide a high quality of urban transport for our passengers in Flensburg over the long term.”