H2Bus consortium is born
A consortium of hydrogen and bus companies, including Everfuel, Wrightbus, Ballard Power Systems, Hexagon Composites, Nel Hydrogen and Ryse Hydrogen have united to create H2Bus. Together, they intend to popularise the technology across the European continent.
Specifically, the plan is to deploy 1,000 fuel cell buses in European cities, as well as providing the necessary hydrogen infrastructure at economically competitive prices. According to the partners, the price for a single-decker bus with fuel cell will be less than 375,000 euros after EU funding, the hydrogen price between five and seven euros per kilogram and the maintenance costs at 30 cents per kilometer.
As reported, the first 600 hydrogen buses will receive 40 million euros in funding from the EU’s Connecting European Facilities (CEF) programme. By 2023, 200 H2 buses each are to be deployed in Denmark, Latvia and Great Britain. The project extends to cooperate with other EU ventures, as Ballard CEO Randy MacEwen notes: “Together with the JIVE funding program, which targets the deployment of 291 FCEBs, we can expect to see approximately 1,300 European fuel cell transit buses in operation in the foreseeable future.”
The consolidation of the bundled FCEV knowledge will certainly help drive the technology forward to more affordable levels, as well as the pushing their market viability as the additional hydrogen fuel stations go live. Wrightbus business development director David Barnett mentioned the importance of the hydrogen bundling, particularly at this point in time: “It is essential that commercial players join forces to realise the true zero-emission mobility society. The hydrogen fuel cell electric bus is the ideal substitute for fossil solutions, without compromising range, operational ability or cost.”
Wrightbus will be integrating Ballard’s 8th generation of power modules into the H2Bus consortium buses before their official launch at the UITP Global Public Transport Summit in Stockholm on 9 – 12 of June.
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