A collaborative commitment to enabling commercially competitive hydrogen-fuelled public transportation is aimed at stimulating Europe’s fuel cell vehicle market while addressing transport-related emission targets. Joining forces to create H2Bus Consortium are Everfuel (Denmark), Wrightbus (Ireland), Ballard Power Systems (Canada), Hexagon Composites (Norway), Nel Hydrogen (Norway) and Ryse Hydrogen (UK), leading players in the hydrogen fuel cell electric value chain.
The members are committed to deploying 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell electric buses, along with supporting infrastructure, in European cities at commercially competitive rates. This ground breaking hydrogen fuel cell electric bus solution proposes to become the most cost-effective truly zero-emission option available, with a single-decker bus price below €375,000 after funding, a hydrogen price between €5 and €7 per kilogram and a service cost of €0.30 per kilometre.
The zero-tailpipe emission feature of the fuel cell bus’ operation will be complemented by zero-emission hydrogen production from renewable energy sources, yielding a well-to-wheel (WtW) emission-free transportation solution.
“It is essential that commercial players join forces to realize the true zero-emission mobility society,” says David Barnett, Business Development Director at Wrightbus. “The hydrogen fuel cell electric bus is the ideal substitute for fossil solutions, without compromising range, operational ability or cost. Wrightbus is also expanding its product offering to include a fuel cell electric double decker bus, 12-meter single-decker bus and articulated bus in order to serve a wider customer base. We are currently witnessing the transformation of public transport for the benefit of both current and coming generations and we feel privileged to be part of this transition together with the other consortium members.”
The first phase of the project, totalling 600 buses, is supported by €39,630,600 from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), representing about 20% of overall investment in the project. The funding will enable the deployment of 200 hydrogen fuel cell electric buses and supporting infrastructure in each of Denmark, Latvia and the UK by 2023. (See CEF Project 2017-DK-TM-0083-W for more details.)
“Hydrogen is the zero-emission solution for heavy-duty applications. Hydrogen can efficiently be produced from renewable electricity and distributed in high capacity hydrogen trailers to bus depots. Here, a hydrogen bus can be fueled in five minutes. This is comparable to diesel,” says Jacob Krogsgaard, CEO of Everfuel. “We are setting up a dedicated hydrogen value chain to cut costs and, in doing so, to approach operational parity with buses which use traditional fuels.”
“The H2Bus Consortium provides the complete package including fuel cell buses and hydrogen fuel. We will offer the most affordable zero-emission bus to meet the increasing demand in the largest cities of Europe,” continues Jacob Krogsgaard.
About H2Bus
H2Bus aims to provide the most affordable truly zero-emission solution to the European public transport sector. The H2bus Consortium is supported by Element Energy as coordinator. Element Energy has experience within development and coordination of large scale hydrogen projects like the JIVE projects, that are demonstrating 291 fuel cell electric buses in cities across Europe.
