Malaga buys ten new electric buses in decarbonisation milestone

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The city's goal is to achieve full elimination of combustion engines in the urban bus fleet in less than a decade

Matías Stuber

Friday, 27 February 2026, 14:25

Malaga city has added ten new electric buses to its EMT network. The aim is to eliminate all combustion engines in the urban transport system in about seven years.

The road to decarbonisation is an initiative in all countries of the EU. Six out of ten new city buses in the EU were emission-free in 2025: 56 per cent were pure electric and another four per cent were equipped with hydrogen fuel cells that also power electric motors. The rest were hybrid, gas and conventional diesel buses.

Since 2019, the EU has been obliging public contracting authorities to comply with minimum quotas for clean and emission-free vehicles in urban road transport networks. At that time, the share of electric buses was only 12 per cent.

On Friday, the city council presented the new buses at the Puerto de Málaga station. They will serve the C1, C2 and 21 lines. Each vehicle costs around 700,000 euros from European Next Generation funds.

With the incorporation of the new buses, the EMT fleet has 54 electric buses, 69 hybrids and 176 combustion vehicles.

"Today we are taking an important step in the sustainability of public transport in Malaga," Mayor Francisco De la Torre said, highlighting that the city coincil's objective is to make more residents take the bus. In 2025, the EMT closed with 54 million passengers.