Overview
Hydrogen buses have the potential to play a significant role in expanding the use of hydrogen in the transport sector. To date, however hydrogen bus demonstrations have been focused on urban buses only, leaving other public transit applications completely unaddressed. In addition, only a limited number of European regions have had the chance to trial hydrogen bus technology, which means the technology is relatively unknown to the majority of European bus operators.
HyTransit will trial a fleet of six hybrid fuel cell buses in daily fleet services, together with one state of the art hydrogen refueling station in Aberdeen (Scotland) for over three years. This project is designed to contribute to the commercialisation of hydrogen buses in Europe by:
- Bringing together an industrial consortium from across Europe to deliver the project, including buses from Van Hool (Belgium) and state of the art refueling technology from BOC (UK).
- Develop six A330 hybrid fuel cell buses specifically modified for long sub-urban routes.
- Generating new Intellectual Property for Europe by developing the concept design for the world’s first hybrid fuel cell coach for long-route transit applications.
- Exposing the six buses to real world operation with exactly the same service requirements as diesel buses, with 14 hours and 270km per day operation.
- A state of the art hydrogen refuelling station will be constructed to serve the bus fleet. The station will be based on ionic compressors, configured to allow a refuelling speed of up to 120 grams per second. The station will house an electrolyser system for on-site hydrogen production.
- Taking the first step for a large-scale rollout of hydrogen buses in Scotland. The next logical step after this project is Scottish Government support for the deployment of a minimum of 50 buses. This project will be the first step to realising this vision for Scotland.
The overall project objective is to prove that a hybrid fuel cell bus is capable of meeting the operational performance of an equivalent diesel bus on demanding UK routes (including urban and inter-urban driving), whilst considerably exceeding its environmental performance.
This will be achieved by bringing together a primarily industrial consortium from five member states to develop, deploy and then monitor the buses in day to day service, with an overarching aim to demonstrate an operational availability for the buses equivalent to diesel (over 90%).
The project will also address the main commercial barrier to the technology (namely bus capital cost) by deploying state of the art components, which will reduce the unit cost of the bus to below 1.1 million euros for the first time.
Results of the project will be widely disseminated to the general public. In addition, a more targeted approach will be adopted towards the key stakeholders who will be responsible for decisions on the next steps towards commercialisation of the technology.
Funding
Results
Final Report Summary - HYTRANSIT (European Hydrogen Transit Buses in Scotland)
Executive Summary:
The HyTransit project began in January 2013 to demonstrate the viability of operating fuel cell electric buses (FCBs) in inter-urban, public transport services. To this end, HyTransit aimed to deploy a fleet of six FCBs and one state-of-the-art hydrogen refueling station (HRS) into everyday operation in Aberdeen, Scotland. By 2015, the HRS had been commissioned and the FCBs had begun operating on a variety of Stagecoach routes across Aberdeen’s city centre and suburbs. By March 2019, the FCBs and the HRS had amassed 4 full years of operation, and the project concluded after a successful demonstration. Based on the experience gathered in the project, Stagecoach and Aberdeen City Council have committed to keep the HyTransit FCBs in regular operation until at least September 2019, 6-months after project conclusion, with further contract extensions under consideration.
Throughout the project period, the Aberdeen Kittybrewster HRS, built and operated by BOC, performed exceptionally well demonstrating some of the highest utilisation and availability figures seen across hydrogen projects in Europe. Over the four years of operation, an average availability of 99.5% was achieved, with ~147,000kg of hydrogen dispensed and ~5,400 successful refills made directly to the 6 HyTransit buses. BOC attribute this high level of performance to two main factors: the innovative station design which factors in great levels of redundancy into the station, and a dedicated on-site technical engineer who visits and monitors the site every day to assess performance and conduct pre-emptive maintenance. Based on the success of the station, the HRS was upgraded in 2018 to include a 700-bar refueller on-site. This opened the station to passenger cars and other smaller goods vehicles, increasing the utilisation of the facility and expanding Aberdeen City Council’s (ACC) potential for hydrogen deployments.
Overall, when compared with previous demonstration projects, the HyTransit FCBs have performed well, responding positively to the heavy-duty cycles enforced by Stagecoach. Through rigorous operation, the FCBs have demonstrated that the technology can meet many of the operational requirements of an equivalent diesel bus, especially when considering the range and refueling time of the technology. However, when placed in comparison with their diesel counterparts, which have an average Final report (01.01.13 - 31.03.19) technical progress report
Project no: 303467 7/55 availability target between 85 to 95%1, the availability of the FCBs has been a challenge for Stagecoach averaging 80% across the project period, excluding the teething period of the FCBs and the HRS. Despite these availability challenges, the 6 HyTransit buses have been operated stringently in the project, driving approximately 1.4 million kilometres and transporting over 1.3 million passengers. As a result, the consortium has been able to compile a detailed dataset which has facilitated the development of a new generation of FCBs capable of matching the full operational requirements of a conventional diesel bus.
By creating a detailed dataset for the project, the HyTransit consortium could also closely monitor the performance of the HRS and the FCBs. Data from the electrolysers, refueling station and the FCBs was collected throughout the project period, creating a detailed 4-year record of performance. Annual data reports and project deliverables have analysed the performance of the project equipment against ‘state-of-the-art’ counterfactuals to assess project performance and define key points for improvement. One of the key learnings harnessed from the HyTransit project highlights the need to improve energy consumption at the HRS and refueling speed at the dispenser. This has informed technological development for the component manufacturer, and the HRS operator, which has led to improvements in these elements across the hydrogen sector.
Equipped with the positive results from the deployment project, Aberdeen City Council and HyER worked to communicate the project to a variety of audiences, from the local Scottish public to new bus customers and European decision makers. This included press releases, project leaflets and presentations at a number of European events. These activities have passed the learnings of the project on to other cities, regions and interested parties, increasing the knowledge base for hydrogen deployments both in the public domain and the FCB sector.
The HyTransit project has therefore been a success, with both the FCB and HRS technologies surpassing all expectations for a demonstration project. The HyTransit buses will remain in operation beyond the end of the project period, until at least Final report (01.01.13 - 31.03.19) technical progress report September 2019, when leasing contracts will be reassessed. However, as the HyTransit FCBs come to the end of their operational lifetime, ACC are already preparing to build upon the HyTransit trial by expanding their FCB fleet with 15 new generation buses funded via the JIVE initiative. This represents the next phase of a master plan to transition the city’s whole public transport network to zero-emission.
Key conclusions
- The Aberdeen Kittybrewster hydrogen refueling station has exceeded industry expectations with the highest average availability (99.5%) and utilisation (46%) results seen to date across hydrogen projects in Europe. Based on this success, the innovative designs of the HRS have been carried forward into other hydrogen projects and have been embedded in BOC’s strategy for future station deployments.
- The HyTransit fuel cell buses have been rigorously tested in the project and exposed to real world commercial operation. In most cases, the buses have met the operational requirements of an equivalent diesel bus, offering the same range and operational flexibility expected by the bus operator.
- Public and driver acceptance of the FCBs has been very positive throughout the project. No major safety concerns have been stated by those who use the buses. In fact, of the passengers and drivers surveyed in the project, many stated that they preferred using the FCBs to diesel buses as they find them quieter and more comfortable to use.
- Passengers showed clear indications that environmental and air quality issues were key concerns for public transport in Aberdeen. There is appetite for zero emission buses in the area and this will likely increase in the coming years, both in Aberdeen and more widely across Europe.
- Based on their experience of trialing the FCBs Stagecoach, the bus operator, remains open to the opportunity of using the technology in the future provided that a reasonable price of hydrogen can be established, and that bus OEMs stand behind their products.
See attached PDF - 'Publishable Summary'
Project Context and Objectives:
See attached PDF - 'Publishable Summary'
Project Results:
See attached PDF - 'Publishable Summary'
Potential Impact:
See attached PDF - 'Publishable Summary'
List of Websites:
www.hytransit.eu
See attached PDF for further details