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Fuel cell midibuses brought into regular service in Ruhr area
Inhabitants of German cities Bottrop and Gladbeck have witnessed the maiden voyages of two low-floor fuel cell midibuses that will be brought into regular public transport service by Vestische Strassenbahnen GmbH, a regional transit authority. A midibus is a single decker bus of anywhere between 8m (26 ft) and 11m (35 ft) long.
The midibus was developed by the German company Hydrogenics GmbH (a subsidiary of Canadian Hydrogenics Corporation), with financial support of the North Rhine-Westphalian government and the European Commission. According to Hydrogenics, there are now ten of such buses in operation throughout Europe. Coming up to the 2010 Essen World Hydrogen Conference, the rather modest fleet should grow substantially. We’ll keep track and counting.
Deployment of the Midibuses is part of European project HYCHAIN MINI-TRANS. Within the project, four EU regions in France, Spain, Germany and Italy are developing a technical platform for a range of fuel cell-powered vehicles. The project’s aim is twofold. Firstly, it wants to demonstrate viability (technical, economic, and of public acceptance) of real-life deployment of fuel cell technologies. Secondly, it aims to establish the critical volume to trigger a steady reduction of production and operational costs.
Cross-border
Awaiting public hydrogen filling facilities, the buses are filled up at the Gladbeck headquarters of Hydrogenics. Between refills, a midibus can keep going for around two hundred kilometres or nine hours of typical operation, carrying a maximum of 22 passengers. It takes a while to reach the maximum range, as the buses currently run at a top speed of around 33 km/h. Although for urban transport, this may be just about adequate, it won’t be enough to go cross-border.
Why would that be needed, you may wonder. Well, wouldn’t it be great if for the 2010 World Hydrogen Conference, the German host impressed their Dutch neighbours by setting up a shuttle service connecting Dutch Arnhem with Essen, Germany? Maybe a bit of peer pressure will get the Dutch moving and make the postponed hydrogen filling station planned in Arnhem a reality.
Source article
- Jungfernfahrt mit Wasserstoff (German)
Related media
- Wasser aus dem Auspuff (short movie, German)
- Midibus demonstration movie at the MindsinMotion Youtube playlist on hydrogen for mobility
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