Trainings & E-Learning

Study Tour through Germany: Electrifying Public Transport

TUMI & E-Motion E-Bus Study Tour 2026 — a Study Tour accompanying the TUMI Conference

The TUMI & E-Motion E-Bus Study Tour gives decision-makers and companies from development-cooperation partner countries a direct, hands-on look at how German cities and operators have moved electric buses from pilot projects into everyday service. Over one week, delegates travel a corridor of cities — Frankfurt, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Munich — meeting the transport authorities, operators, manufacturers and charging-technology partners behind the e-bus transition.

The tour is the practical, on-the-ground complement to the TUMI Conference in Berlin: participants finish the week of site visits and continue to the conference and the InnoTrans trade fair, arriving with a concrete picture of what fleet electrification looks like in operation — the vehicles, the depots, the charging infrastructure, and the procurement and financing decisions behind them.

It is organised by GIZ on behalf of BMZ within the TUMI and E-Motion programmes. A dedicated E-Motion track runs in parallel for the Latin American delegation, adding a visit to ESWE Verkehr in Wiesbaden and a deeper focus on charging and fleet-management technology.

Over the week, delegates will:

• See the technology in service — gain first-hand insight into electric buses, charging infrastructure and depot operations already running at scale in German cities.
• Learn from real operations — understand the practical experience of implementing and operating e-buses in public transport: what worked, what was hard, and what it cost.
• Connect with German partners — build exchange between international participants and German operators, authorities, manufacturers and institutions working on the transition.
• Spot the trends — identify current trends in public transport, from aggregated procurement and governance to charging concepts and battery technology.

SITE VISITS

GIZ (host & briefing) · Agora Verkehrswende (policy) · traffiQ / RMV (authority) · ESWE Verkehr (operator) · Daimler Buses (manufacturer) · VBK Karlsruhe (operator) · MVG Munich (operator) · MAN Truck & Bus (manufacturer) · ToZero, Heliox/Siemens, INIT, Fastned (charging & fleet tech) · Deutsche Bahn (charging depot)

ORGANISING TEAM

Marvin Stolz — Transport Policy Advisor, TUMI (lead) · marvin.stolz@giz.de

Rabea Schmecht — Advisor Fleet Electrification, E-Motion · rabea.schmecht@giz.de

Vanessa Hochwald — Specialist Digitalization, TUE-Mobility · vanessa.hochwald@giz.de

PARTNERS 

Organised by GIZ on behalf of BMZ, within the TUMI and E-Motion programmes, together with partner organisations across policy, research and public transport. E-Motion is funded by the Green Climate Fund and jointly implemented with AFD and CAF, under the IKI of the German government.