The City Council met: How have the hydrogen-powered refuse collection vehicles operated by Stadtreinigung Leipzig performed?

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At the council meeting on 2 July, there was a minor first. Until now, when it came to questions from the city council, it had generally been the political groups themselves who were given the floor and were able to use the time to put further oral questions to the relevant mayors regarding their original queries. The independent councillors generally had no chance of getting a turn. Although, of the two independent councillors currently serving, only one is actually actively involved – Stefan Rieger. His question was actually the seemingly hopeless number 59.

As he would otherwise never have had a turn, he was allowed to put his follow-up questions as early as after question number 7.

“According to information from the city administration, Leipzig’s refuse collection service has had 16

hydrogen-powered refuse collection vehicles in operation since 2024

. This is said to account for around one-third of the refuse collection fleet,” Rieger noted in his question

.

“The whole project was described as unique in Germany on this scale. It is therefore appropriate to review this pilot project after two years.”

And the response from Leipzig City Cleaning seemed to confirm his scepticism.

“For conventional refuse collection vehicles, an operational rate of approximately 80 per cent is assumed. The hydrogen-powered vehicles achieved an average operational rate of 45.6 per cent during the period under review,” the City of Leipzig’s refuse collection service reported.

“The vehicles therefore remain significantly below the benchmark for conventional vehicles. The operational availability to date is not yet sufficient for regular service; work is therefore prioritising efforts to increase operational availability.”

More expensive, yet not as efficient?

So, a waste of money? That, at any rate, was Stefan Rieger’s suspicion when he enquired on 2 July. After all, the 16 hydrogen-powered vehicles purchased in 20245 were significantly more expensive than conventional, petrol-powered ones.

“The total purchase cost for the 16 hydrogen-powered refuse collection vehicles amounts to 17,664,875.54 euros. That works out at an average of 1,104,054.72 euros per vehicle,” according to Stadtreinigung Leipzig. “For comparable conventional reference vehicles, the total cost would be €5,652,019.05. The additional cost of the hydrogen-powered vehicles therefore amounts to €12,012,856.49.

These additional costs are largely offset by subsidies totalling 10,811,570.84 euros. Once the subsidies have been paid out in full, the additional costs compared with conventional reference vehicles amount to €1,201,285.65, or an average of €75,080.35 per vehicle.”

And yet the vehicles are still not fully operational? So has Leipzig made a mistake with this purchase?

“The operational overview shows that, during the period under review, the hydrogen-powered refuse collection vehicles did not consistently achieve the operational availability required for routine service,” said the city administration, describing the current situation.

“This was due in particular to technical faults, maintenance and repair requirements, as well as limitations associated with the new propulsion technology. Operational availability therefore remains below that of conventional vehicles.

When hydrogen-powered vehicles are unavailable, the manufacturer provides conventional replacement vehicles. This ensures that operational waste collection reliability can be maintained in day-to-day operations.”

When there is no operational experience with new technologies yet

A statement that led Rieger to suspect that additional costs would be incurred here due to the use of conventional vehicles. In this regard, the City Cleaning Department’s response was indeed misleading, even though the department had specifically highlighted a key fact:

“At the time of the procurement decision in 2020/2021, alternative propulsion technologies for heavy-duty refuse collection vehicles were, on the whole, in a dynamic development phase and at an early stage of market introduction. This applied to both purely battery-electric vehicles and hydrogen- or fuel-cell-electric vehicles. Neither technology, therefore, had yet benefited from the long-standing, extensive operational experience of conventional diesel vehicles.”

So vehicles were ordered that had not yet proven themselves in day-to-day operation. This also made Leipzig a pioneer. However, this only became clear when Heiko Rosenthal, the city’s mayor for the environment, responded to Rieger’s enquiry on 2 July.

This is because all 16 vehicles are still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. The manufacturer, of course, has an interest in ensuring that the vehicles overcome their teething problems and can enter stable, routine operation.

This means that the manufacturer is currently still responsible for all costs arising from the vehicles’ technical unreliability. And Heiko Rosenthal also emphasised that this would remain the case until the manufacturer can deliver vehicles that are 100 per cent operational.

However, this is precisely what they are working on. The city cleaning department itself noted this: “The current operational availability is not yet sufficient for routine operation; therefore, work is being prioritised to increase operational availability.”

Rosenthal added that they are in direct dialogue with the manufacturer on this matter. So there is currently no thought whatsoever of cancelling the purchase. As is so often the case with new technology, it must first prove itself in day-to-day operation. And from this perspective, the Leipzig project is also a genuine real-world test of this new technology for the manufacturer. So far, both sides are keen to ensure the vehicles are robust enough for everyday use.