In the City of Graz, efforts to introduce new, clean fuels have focused on biodiesel. Today, the whole bus fleet of the Graz public transport company GVB is converted to biodiesel. It is the only municipal public transport fleet in the world to run on 100 percent biodiesel. Most of the biodiesel stems from reprocessed used cooking oil.
In the beginning of 2002, when the Trendsetter project started, 55 of the 140 buses of Graz's public transport company, Grazer Verkehrsbetriebe GVB, were running on biodiesel. Within Trendsetter, the target was to fully convert the municipal bus fleet to biodiesel. To achieve this, 41 new climate-controlled, wheelchair-accessible biodiesel buses have been introduced. These busses also have optimum interior design with a better acoustic and visual information. The engines of the remaining GVB diesel busses have been modified to run on biodiesel. The result is 100 percent of the 130 bus GVB fleet running on 100 percent biodiesel.
A biodiesel fuelling station has been built to ensure simple and convenient biodiesel fuelling. This station is open for GVB buses as well as other municipal vehicles.
Graz has introduced a very successful used cooking oil collection scheme collecting from restaurants and households. The collected used cooking oil is converted into biodiesel and provides most of the fuel for the busfleet. The collection marketing campaign has been combined with mobility consulting.
Graz is a competence centre for biodiesel, with
one of the most advanced biodiesel quality testing on the University of Graz,
one of the best motor testing institutes doing long term biodiesel testing on engines
the only municipal public transport fleet running for 100% on 100% biodiesel
a large taxifleet (over 60 vehicles) running on 100% biodiesel
Format for printing
Email this page
