Düsseldorf to get 20 H2 fuel cell buses

In the west of Germany, the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, will be getting 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses in public transport services. The buses are to be fuelled by hydrogen produced by electrolysers from the regional utility company Stadtwerke Düsseldorf.

The zero-emission buses will be operated by Rheinbahn, the regional public transport service with support from H2 Mobility Deutschland (hydrogen infrastructure) and financial support from the federal German government.

Stadwerke says the first ten will be delivered in the coming weeks while the other ten are currently in the ordering process. The first ten vehicles are now about to be delivered. The fuel cell buses are to be used on line 732 between the port, the main station and the district of Eller. Test operation is to start in the second quarter of 2023.

“This will enable us to gather extensive knowledge for a future use of this new technology,” says Klaus Klar, Chairman of the Executive Board and Labour Director of Rheinbahn.

While Rheinbahn, as Düsseldorf’s public transport operator, will procure and deploy the vehicles, Stadtwerke, as the energy provider, will also be responsible for the production of the hydrogen. Although the state utility company is investing in an electrolyser with a capacity of one megawatt (MW) in order to be able to produce green hydrogen on-site in the future, this will not be until 2026 when the electrolyser will be powered by electricity from the waste incineration plant.

In future, these buses will be refuelled at a filling station operated by H2 Mobility on the utility company’s site in the district of Flingern. Stadtwerke says this is to be built by mid-2024 at the latest and will then also be open to passenger cars. Until then, the Rheinbahn buses will have to fill up with hydrogen at Oerschbachstraße in Düsseldorf-Reisholz, where H2 Mobility already operates a 350-bar filling station – conveniently located near Eller for the operation of line 732 where the buses will be running.

“We are consistently working on implementing our strategy for achieving climate protection goals and steadily improving the quality of life in Düsseldorf as a business location,” says Julien Mounier, CEO of Stadtwerke Düsseldorf. “The investment in hydrogen technology is another important step towards achieving this goal. By 2030, we want to invest two billion euros in the development of our city and our company.”

swd-ag.de (in German)