“The transition to zero-emission mobility and the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis are the core priorities of the European bus industry right now,” stated Mr. Kuchta after being appointed.

“Europe’s bus manufacturers are developing pioneering solutions to help cities reduce congestion, pollution and noise in parallel. E-mobility will be a key solution to achieve this, but requires the right charging infrastructure in the right places, such as urban nodes, airports and bus terminals,” he explained.

That is why ACEA is urging the European Commission and Member States to scale up support for alternative fuel infrastructure dedicated to buses, as part of the review of Europe’s Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Law (AFID) expected later this year.

Electrically-chargeable buses made up 6.1% of total new registrations in the European Union (EU) last year, with hybrid electric buses accounting for 9.5%. Over 11% of all new buses sold ran on alternative fuels, nearly all of which were powered by natural gas. All alternatively-powered vehicles combined represented over a quarter of the EU bus market in 2020, with diesel-powered buses holding some 73% of the total market.

ACEA brings together Europe’s five main bus and coach manufacturers: Daimler, Iveco, MAN, Scania and Volvo Group. Mr. Kuchta takes over the role of Chairman of the ACEA Bus & Coach General Managers’ committee from Håkan Agnevall of Volvo Buses.