Birmingham City Council has unveiled the first of its 20 new hydrogen buses, which will be in operation later this year.
On Tuesday, 29 June, several high-level speakers from different sectors met to discuss the deployment of fuel cell buses (FCBs) and their associated infrastructure. The event was attended by a diverse audience of 150 participants, with a significant presence of Spanish operators and some Latin American attendees.
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London. © Transport for London
On Friday, 11 June 2021, a new hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) opened at the Qbuzz bus depot in Groningen. In addition, twenty new VanHool hydrogen buses were presented. This fleet was partly funded by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) under the JIVE 2 project.
Two cities, Aberdeen (Scotland) and Pau (France), were brought together on Thursday 22nd April to present and discuss their experience of deploying fuel cell buses and their associated infrastructure. A diverse audience of over 100 attendees heard from these two ‘early movers’ about the great benefits that hydrogen brings for local energy system decarbonisation, as well as the practicalities of operating the vehicles and the infrastructure.
The French hydrogen production company McPhy has announced that it has been commissioned to design, manufacture and install two hydrogen refuelling stations that will help decarbonise the airport's operations. In addition, TransDev Occitanie will supply five hydrogen-powered buses.
Stadtwerke Münster (SWM), one of Germany's largest energy and infrastructure companies, has added a hydrogen fuel cell bus to its bus fleet. Electric buses have already been in use in Münster since 2015.
The transport operator Österreichische Postbus AG (ÖBB-Postbus) has opted for Solaris as a potential supplier of both emission-free and conventionally driven vehicles. According to the concluded framework agreements, up to 40 Urbino 12 hydrogen buses will be supplied in 2021-2023.
German transport operator Regionalverkehr Köln (RVK) has taken delivery of the first of 15 Solaris Urbino 12 hydrogen fuel cell buses ordered in March 2020. The bus will now be tested at RVK's Wermelskirchen branch in the Rheinisch-Bergisch district. This is the first time a new manufacturer has joined RVK's hydrogen vehicle fleet, which now totals 37 buses.
Dutch bus operator Arriva will add ten hydrogen-powered Solaris Urbino 12 buses to its fleet later this year. Arriva will operate them in the Achterhoek region and in the cities of Zutphen and Apeldoorn from December 2021.
