Ceremonial Opening of the Charging Infrastructure at the Diedrichstraße Depot in Kiel with 43 Charging Points

On September 24, 2025, KVG celebrated the ceremonial opening of its new depot on Diedrichstraße in Kiel. A total of 43 charging points were installed for the company’s growing fleet of electric buses, each offering a charging capacity between 150 and 220 kW, resulting in a combined output of approximately 7 MW. With this expansion, Kiel now boasts 63 depot chargers across both sites, complemented by 32 high-power chargers (HPC) with 420 kW distributed throughout the city and at the Werftstraße depot.

During the event, Andreas Schulz, Managing Director of KVG (pictured left), delivered a compelling speech highlighting the company’s achievements:

• The fleet will soon grow to 218 buses, including 122 electric buses (53%) and 33 hybrid buses
• The electric fleet has already covered approximately 16 million kilometers
• Since the launch of the new fleet in 2020, 18,350 tons of CO₂ have been saved

These milestones were also recognized by several distinguished guests:

• Dr. Ulf Kämpfer – Lord Mayor of the City of Kiel
• Sabine Schirdewahn – Plant Manager, Municipal Enterprise Beteiligungen, City of Kiel
• Susanne Henckel – State Secretary, Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transport, Labour, Technology and Tourism, Schleswig-Holstein
• Nikolaus Oberkandler – Head of Division, Federal Ministry of Transport

Special thanks were extended to the companies involved in the successful implementation of the project, especially VDL (bus supplier, pictured: Mr. Höltermann, Managing Director of VDL Germany) and SBRS, responsible for the charging infrastructure.

The depot features SBRS’s proven water-cooled SLIM high-performance chargers, with the total power limited to 2.5 MW. The Balancestar load management system ensures that this limit is consistently maintained, optimizing energy distribution across the site.

Following the official speeches, the event continued with technical discussions among experts and concluded with a shared lunch, marking a successful and inspiring day for sustainable mobility in Kiel.