Fuel Cell Bus Club

For more details on this topic, see Hydrogen vehicle and Fuel cell bus trial.

The Fuel Cell Bus Club comprised the participants of the projects CUTE (2001-2006), ECTOS (2001-2005) and STEP (2001-2005) which were pioneering demonstration projects for fuel cell bus fleets in Europe and Australia.[1] The projects have been successfully completed.[2][3][4] There were three buses in each of the 11 cities in the trial. The buses were a Mercedes-Benz Citaro and used hydrogen fuel cells from Ballard Power Systems. At the time they claimed to be the largest fleet of fuel cell buses in the world. The buses were estimated to cost US$ 1.2 million each and have a range of 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) and carry around 70 passengers.

Projects

CUTE

CUTE stands for Clean Urban Transport for Europe.[5][6] This European Union initiative was responsible for the fuel cell buses in all but two of the cities: Hamburg, London,[7] Barcelona, Stockholm, Porto, Stuttgart, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, and Madrid. It was supported by a consortium of transportation operators, hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell developers, universities and city authorities.[8] The project ran from 2001-2006.[8][9][10][11] The project was "deemed a success."[12][13][14]

ECTOS

ECTOS stands for Ecological City Transport System.[15][16] Icelandic New Energy was responsible for this project, the aim of which was to demonstrate "state-of-the-art" hydrogen technology by running part of the public transport system with fuel cell buses in the city Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. Hydrogen was produced from domestic geothermal and hydro-powered energy sources by electrolysis. The project ran from 2001-2005.[8]

STEP

STEP stands for Sustainable Transport Energy for Perth.[17] This initiative of the Government of Western Australia's Department for Planning and Infrastructure (DPI), was the responsibility of the public transport organisation Transperth, though it was run by Transperth's contracted bus operator Path Transit. They were operated in the city Perth, the capital of Western Australia. These three buses are called "EcoBuses". The project ran from 2001-2005, with the first buses in service in September 2004.[8]

The Perth trial received A$2.5 million funding from the Department of the Environment and Heritage and the Australian Greenhouse Office.[8] It was endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.[8]

BP produced the hydrogen as a by-product at its Kwinana oil refinery (50 kilometres (31.1 mi) south of Perth).[8] The hydrogen was then transported by road in specially designed road tankers to a bus depot in the northern suburbs of Perth.[8] Perth's buses achieved greater reliability and better fuel economy than in any other city in the trial.[8]

By June 2005, the Perth buses had covered more than 60,000 kilometres (37,282 mi) and completed almost 3,000 operational hours, with almost 60,000 passengers having used the service.[8]

Partners

The buses were manufactured by DaimlerChrysler, the manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, and use fuel cell engines manufactured by XCELLSIS Fuel Cell Engines, now a division of Ballard Power Systems, developed as an alliance of Ballard, DaimlerChrysler, and Ford Motor Company. A number of the cities are receiving their hydrogen from BP. The trial is being independently evaluated, mostly by Murdoch University.

References

  1. ↑ Vidueira, J.M.; Contreras, A.; Veziroglu, T.N. "PV autonomous installation to produce hydrogen via electrolysis, and its use in FC buses", International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Sep2003, Vol. 28 Issue 9, p927. 11p. DOI: 10.1016/S0360-3199(02)00191-X
  2. ↑ Maack, Maria H.; Skulason, Jon Bjorn. "Implementing the hydrogen economy", Journal of Cleaner Production. Jan 2006, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p52-64. 13p. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2005.05.027.
  3. ↑ Petrović, Jelica; Ivković, Ivan; Vujačić, Ivan; Žeželj, Srećko. "POSSIBILITIES OF BUSES ON ALTERNATIVE FUEL IN PUBLIC URBAN TRANSPORT IN BELGRADE", Technological & Economic Development of Economy. 2009, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p78-89.
  4. ↑ COCKROFT, COLIN J.; OWEN, ANTHONY D. "The Economics of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Buses", Economic Record. Dec 2007, Vol. 83 Issue 263, p359-370. 12p. 10 Charts. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2007.00426.x.
  5. ↑ Mason, Deirdre. "EU fuel cell bus trial extended transport for London Britain--low emissions public transport." International News Services Mar. 2006. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
  6. ↑ "UK trails fuel cell buses", Power Engineer. Feb/Mar 2004, Vol. 18 Issue 1
  7. ↑ "Fuel cell buses arrive in London, just Porto to go", Fuel Cells Bulletin. Jan2004, Vol. 2004 Issue 1, p1. 1p. DOI: 10.1016/S1464-2859(04)00039-2.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 Noriko Hikosaka Behling (2012). Fuel Cells: Current Technology Challenges and Future Research Needs. Newnes. p. 486. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  9. ↑ "EUROPEAN FUEL CELL BUS PROJECT EXTENDED BY ONE YEAR", Clean Air & Environmental Quality. May 2006, Vol. 41 Issue 2, p22-22.
  10. ↑ Saxe, M.; Folkesson, A.; Alvfors, P. "Energy system analysis of the fuel cell buses operated in the project: Clean Urban Transport for Europe", Energy. May2008, Vol. 33 Issue 5, p689-711. 23p. DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2008.01.001.
  11. ↑ Haraldsson, K.; Folkesson, A.; Alvfors, P., "Fuel cell buses in the Stockholm CUTE project—First experiences from a climate perspective", Journal of Power Sources. Aug2005, Vol. 145 Issue 2, p620-631. 12p. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2004.12.081.
  12. ↑ Kris Christen. "Europe's CUTE project for hydrogen-fuel-cell buses deemed a success", Environmental Science & Technology. 8/1/2006, Vol. 40 Issue 15, p4541-4541.
  13. ↑ Carvalho, Luís; Mingardo, Giuliano; Van Haaren, Jeroen. "Green Urban Transport Policies and Cleantech Innovations: Evidence from Curitiba, Göteborg and Hamburg", European Planning Studies. Mar2012, Vol. 20 Issue 3, p375-396. 22p. DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2012.651801.
  14. ↑ "Conference wraps up CUTE, next programs", Fuel Cells Bulletin. Jul2006, Vol. 2006 Issue 7, p10-10. 1p. DOI: 10.1016/S1464-2859(06)71128-2.
  15. ↑ "Iceland: Long days, hot nights - MENTAL FLOSS". Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ) - Sunday, July 30, 2006
  16. ↑ Maack, Maria; Skulason, Jon. "HOT ROCKS AND HYDROGEN", Power Engineer. Feb 2003, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p14.
  17. ↑ "TOWARDS TOMORROW." Sun-Herald [Sydney, Australia] 9 Nov. 2003: 33. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

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