21. April 2022
Invest in our planet: Flix is driving the Mobility (R)Evolution
++ Flix (R)Evolution pays into this year’s earth week campaign “Invest in our planet”
++ Long-distance buses are one of the most sustainable travel options
++ Flix invests in emission reduction measures and sets standards in carbon-neutral technologies such as biogas-powered buses, electric buses, and buses with solar panels
++ Until 2024: launch of the first hydrogen-powered long-distance bus
Joining forces with the Leaders for Climate Action, Flix is among world-renowned brands in the Earth Week initiative. Focused on how organizations can invest in the planet, the campaign is a perfect match for Flix’s vision of offering sustainable and affordable mobility for everyone. Investing in impactful measures to lower emissions and set new standards for carbon-neutral technologies, the goal is to lead and transform the future of mobility with renewable energies.
Thanks to its large and modern fleet of long-distance buses powered by conservative diesel engines, Flix has some of the most environmental-friendly means of transportation available in the market. Together with a diverse portfolio of projects to further reduce emissions, such as biogas-powered buses, E-buses, and solar-panel-equipped buses, Flix’s commitment also stretches to the consumer with the possibility to compensate CO2 emissions with atmosfair. One of the next steps in sustainable mobility is under development with Freudenberg and ZF, with the creation of the first hydrogen-powered long-distance buses.
The Flix (R)Evolution
2013
The company entered the market as FlixBus and started its revolution of long-distance bus travel and changed the way people travel across Europe. By gradually integrating a modernized Euro6 Diesel product, FlixBus has become one of the most sustainable means of transportation. The CO2 emissions speak for itself: A passenger in Europe traveling by FlixBus accounts for 26g CO2 per passenger-kilometer. In comparison, a private car passenger’s carbon footprint is around five times bigger, and an airplane passenger’s even around ten times bigger.
2018
Growing as a company, taking millions of passengers to their desired destinations, the focus and vision of Flix has not changed: offering more sustainable and affordable mobility for everyone. Aiming to take the sustainability commitment to the next level, together with BYD and Yutong, Flix started pilot projects with electric buses: running in Germany and France, they were the world’s first long-distance electric buses.
Another milestone of the evolution of Flix was the introduction of FlixTrain in Germany. Running entirely on green energy, the fuel is carbon neutral. In 2021 FlixTrain’s green journey continued by expanding to Sweden.
2020
Flix followed the sun: a FlixBus with solar panels started to run from Dortmund to London, today the bus is running between Paris and Eindhoven. For this pilot project, FlixBus worked with TRAILAR, a British company that offers innovative transport solutions to reduce the environmental impact of commercial vehicles. The solar panels generate energy for the bus’s electrical consumption which effectively reduces fuel consumption, leading to an average of 1.7 liters of diesel being saved per 100 km and CO2 emissions being reduced by up to 6,5%. Flix is currently investigating whether this innovative technology could be implemented throughout the fleet.
2021
The first biogas-powered buses were launched on the routes Amsterdam – Brussels, and Stockholm – Oslo. The bus between the Netherlands and Belgium is powered by compressed biogas (Bio-CNG) and is built by Iveco while the bus running between Sweden and Norway is powered by liquified biogas (Bio-LNG) and is a Scania model. Flix partnered with gas providers OrangeGas and Gasum, to ensure the most climate-friendly biogas. Using biogas-powered buses leads to 75% CO2 reduction compared to diesel operations on the same route. Due to our modern and highly efficient fleet, 400.000 tons of CO2 from our passenger trips were avoided by choosing FlixBus and FlixTrain.
Future
Already having launched several pilot projects and planning on many more to come, Flix joins forces to develop a revolutionary product: Europe’s first hydrogen-powered long-distance bus. In cooperation with Freudenberg Fuel Cell e-Power Systems and ZF Friedrichshafen, a fuel-cell-powered long-distance bus is being developed and expected to be launched in 2024. The aim is to establish a high-performance fuel cell system that will replace conventional diesel propulsion to achieve climate neutrality in long-distance bus travel.
About Flix
Flix intends to transform the public transport sector by offering sustainable and affordable long-distance bus- and train travel solutions in more than 40 countries across four continents. With its asset-light business model and innovative technology platform, Flix, launched in 2013 swiftly established a market-leading position for long-distance bus travel in Europe, North America and Türkiye and is rapidly expanding further into South America and India through its brands FlixBus, FlixTrain, Kamil Koç, and Greyhound.
Driven by increased awareness for sustainable travel, Flix aims to become carbon neutral in Europe by 2040 and globally by 2050. To assess its progress within a scientifically recognized framework, Flix established near-term targets for emissions reduction with the Science Based Targets initiative.
While Flix manages the commercial side of the business such as network planning, pricing, operations control, marketing and sales, quality management and continuous product development with a data-driven approach, trusted Flix partners conduct the daily operations. The innovative combination of Flix’s technology and sales platform with traditional passenger travel has turned a European start-up into a leading and globally expanding travel tech company.
For more information, please visit corporate.flix.com