En ole nyt noita pienempiä vetybussien tilauksia tänne enää linkittänyt, mutta tämä on minun mielestä merkittävä juttu. Saksalainen Kölnin kaupunki on tehnyt jo neljännen tilauksen Solariksen vetybussista, eli oletettavasti voimalinja täyttää asiakkaiden tarpeet. Odotan vastaavia uusia tilauksia muiltakin vanhoilta asiakkailta, kun heillä kertyy lisää positiivisia kokemuksia tuotteista ja paikallinen infra on kehittynyt riittävästi. Kölni on ollut tässä edelläkävi ja siellä on infra jo valmiina → kohta siellä on 84 Solariksen h2-dösää.
Press (solarisbus.com)
The public transport operator in Cologne, Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH (RVK), has once again chosen Solaris as the supplier of hydrogen-powered buses. Nine of the buses are Urbino 12 hydrogen buses with a length of 12 meters, while eleven are articulated Urbino 18 hydrogen buses. After the order is fulfilled, the hydrogen fleet in Cologne will number 84 Solaris buses.
Tässä mielenkiintoinen haastattelu:
Foothill Transit Agency: Leveraging the power of fuel cells (ballard.com)
Foothill Transit on iso operaattori, jolla on yhteensä 359 bussia. Maakasubusseja 307kpl, akkukäyttöisä 19 ja h2 busseja 33. Tavoite on luonnollisesti päästöjen leikkaaminen. Koko hjaastattelu on suotavaa lukea, se on täyttä asiaa. Linkkaan tänne useamman leikkauksen, joita pidän itse tärkeinä pointteina.
Over the last 10 years, we’ve gained a lot of experience operating electric buses on our routes. We quickly found that a pure battery electric solution has challenges, mostly around its limited range. We were told that a 440kWh battery pack had a range of 251 miles, but in reality we could only achieve 150 miles on a single charge. That’s presented significant operational complications - even the simple task of moving buses around in the yard to charge became a challenge.
We engaged the services of Burns McDonnel Consulting to prepare a study on how the agency can electrify our fleet as we wanted to understand the implications of transitioning to a 100% battery electric fleet by 2030. Their report demonstrated it would cost us over $120m to make it happen, while it also identified that we simply don’t have enough space in our bus yards to accommodate the required infrastructure. The reason for this is that battery electric is not a 1:1 replacement - it’s 1.5:1. We would have to increase our entire fleet to more than 500 buses, and we simply don’t have space for that.
With a battery electric bus, traffic flow has an impact. Not only that, but the type of terrain you operate within and the weather have an effect on performance and availability. Luckily, we are in California, where we are not impacted by extreme cold temperatures like agencies in the Midwest and East Coast. Battery electric buses can lose up to 50% of the stored energy to maintain a comfortable interior environment for the riders - heating up the cabin takes a lot of energy. With hydrogen fuel cell buses, there is no impact in terms of traffic flow, route elevation changes, or the weather. Again, it’s like operating a CNG bus.
What are the most significant lessons that you’ve learned in Foothill’s transition to zero-emission operations?
I would say that I was disappointed with a pure battery electric solution. It really does impose range limitations on the buses. I thought they would perform better - especially in our climate conditions. We realized that in order to extend the range of the electric bus, we had to install in-route charging systems, and that’s a very costly predicament. Our studies indicated the capital investment to build a charging station was up to $700,000. One of the positive lessons we learned is that you have to install two systems - for redundancy in case one of the charging stations breaks down. If not, you leave your bus stranded. With hydrogen fuel cell buses you don’t have such complications.
Speaking of complications, there have been a lot of, what I call, cottage industries with technologies designed to improve the battery electric performance for public transit. People are talking about microgrids or using battery storage to control the cost of charging your buses. Then there are “charge management systems” that are required to optimize all the different systems for recharging the buses. Things like - how much charge does the bus really need to get redeployed? What is the cost of electricity at the time of charging? How many buses are being charged simultaneously, and where are they positioned within the depot’s charging array? There are many moving parts that need to be controlled in the battery electric recharging ecosystem. You simply don’t have that complexity with fuel cell buses.
The only concern we have right now for the fuel cell technology is the cost of hydrogen. We need to reach a point where the cost per kilogram is comparable to what we pay for legacy fossil fuel or battery electric. We’re paying probably twice as much to fuel our hydrogen buses versus charging our electric buses. That’s the only downfall in terms of hydrogen.
How would you advise a transit agency that’s considering moving to zero-emission buses?
First off, look at what other transit agencies have been piloting. Understand the different technologies, what they’ve learned, and what are the pluses and minuses of each solution. I encourage you to read as many articles on the subject as possible to educate yourself on the differences between hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric.
It is also very important to educate your shareholders and transit agency executives. You need to take into consideration what’s good for the transit agency and implement a solution that properly fits your operation. As you can imagine, there are many influencing factors. As such, educating your shareholders on the difference between battery electric and hydrogen fuel cells will help your agency decide the right path to a zero-emission transition.
Viime talven suht happamista akkubussiartikkeleista voisi melkein veikata, että monella on jäänyt tuo due diligency tekemättä näiden zero emission voimalinjojen välillä…
Vielä viimeinen artikkeli liittyen tuohon vedyn hintaan:
China’s largest green hydrogen refuelling station is selling H2 at a seventh of the cost of the fuel in California | Hydrogen news and intelligence (hydrogeninsight.com)
Hinta siis 4.86$/kg. Saas nähdä, onko tämä se voittava ratkaisu myös länsimaissa - eli vedyn tekeminen itse asemalla. On se ainakin yksi vaihtoehto.
