Fuel Cell Bus Club
Encyclopedia
The Fuel Cell Bus Club comprises the participants of the projects CUTE, ECTOS and STEP. Their website title says "the first fuel cell bus fleet".
They are currently running a two-year Mercedes-Benz
Citaro
hydrogen
fuel cell bus trial using the largest fleet of fuel cell
bus
es in the world, sharing all information. 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.
There are three buses in each of the 11 cities in the trial.
initiative is responsible for the fuel cell buses in all but two of the cities: Hamburg
, London
, Barcelona
, Stockholm
, Porto
, Stuttgart
, Amsterdam
, Luxembourg
, and Madrid
.
is responsible for this project, the aim of which is 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 will be produced from domestic geothermal
and hydro-powered
energy
sources by electrolysis
.
, 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". They began service on September 27, 2004.
The Perth trial received A$
2.5 million funding from the Department of the Environment and Heritage
and the Australian Greenhouse Office
. It has been endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme
and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization
.
STEP is also sharing information with other fuel cell bus projects (see Fuel cell bus trial
).
BP produces the hydrogen as a by-product at its Kwinana
oil refinery
(50 kilometres (31.1 mi) south of Perth). The hydrogen is then transported by road in specially-designed road tankers to a bus depot in the northern suburbs of Perth. Perth's buses have achieved greater reliability and better fuel economy
than in any other city in this trial.
By June 2005 the Perth buses had covered more than 60000 kilometres (37,282 mi) and completed almost 3,000 operational hours, with almost 60,000 passengers having used the service.
, the manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, and use fuel cell
engine
s 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
.
They are currently running a two-year Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
Citaro
Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro
The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is the current Mercedes-Benz/EvoBus mainstream single-decker bus intended for public transport, introduced in 1997 and replaced the Mercedes-Benz O405/O405N series...
hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
fuel cell bus trial using the largest fleet of fuel cell
Fuel cell
A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used...
bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es in the world, sharing all information. The buses were estimated to cost US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.2 million
Million
One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
each and have a range of 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) and carry around 70 passengers.
There are three buses in each of the 11 cities in the trial.
CUTE
CUTE stands for Clean Urban Transport for Europe. This European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
initiative is responsible for the fuel cell buses in all but two of the cities: Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Luxembourg
Luxembourg (city)
The city of Luxembourg , also known as Luxembourg City , is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg...
, and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.
ECTOS
ECTOS stands for Ecological City Transport System. Icelandic New EnergyIcelandic New Energy
Icelandic New Energy Ltd is a company that promotes the use of hydrogen fuel in Iceland founded in 1999 following a decision in 1998 by the Icelandic Parliament to convert vehicle and fishing fleets to hydrogen produced from renewable energy by 2050.Icelandic New Energy was formed as a spin-off...
is responsible for this project, the aim of which is to demonstrate "state-of-the-art" hydrogen technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
by running part of the public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
system with fuel cell buses in the city Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
, the capital of Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
.
Hydrogen will be produced from domestic geothermal
Geothermal power
Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. Earth's geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of minerals...
and hydro-powered
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
sources by electrolysis
Electrolysis
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...
.
STEP
STEP stands for Sustainable Transport Energy for Perth. This initiative of the Government of Western Australia's Department of Planning and Infrastructure (DPI), was the responsibility of the public transport organisation TransperthTransperth
Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system in Perth, Western Australia. It is operated by the Public Transport Authority.-History:...
, though it was run by Transperth's contracted bus operator Path Transit
Path Transit
Path Transit is a transport company operating 320 buses in Perth, Australia since 1996.It has depots in :* Bayswater* MalagaPath Transit also provides rental of vehicles for private functions.-Vehicles:...
. They were operated in the city Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, the capital of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. These three buses are called "EcoBuses". They began service on September 27, 2004.
The Perth trial received A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
2.5 million funding from the Department of the Environment and Heritage
Department of the Environment and Heritage (Australia)
The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities , formerly the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts , is a department of the Australian federal government and was established on 14 September 2010.The stated aims of the department is to achieve...
and the Australian Greenhouse Office
Australian Greenhouse Office
The Australian Greenhouse Office within the Government of Australia was the world's first government agency dedicated to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In 1998, following pressure from the Australian Democrats, it was established as a stand alone agency within the environment portfolio to...
. It has been endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization , French/Spanish acronym ONUDI, is a specialized agency in the United Nations system, headquartered in Vienna, Austria...
.
STEP is also sharing information with other fuel cell bus projects (see Fuel cell bus trial
Fuel cell bus trial
This page contains information on some fuel cell bus trials.Perth, Western Australia, a Fuel Cell Bus Club member, agreed to share information with the following two trials:...
).
BP produces the hydrogen as a by-product at its Kwinana
Kwinana
Kwinana may refer to:*Town of Kwinana, a Local Government Area in Western Australia*Kwinana Beach, Western Australia, a suburb in Western Australia*Kwinana Freeway, a major road in Western Australia...
oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
(50 kilometres (31.1 mi) south of Perth). The hydrogen is then transported by road in specially-designed road tankers to a bus depot in the northern suburbs of Perth. Perth's buses have achieved greater reliability and better fuel economy
Fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the efficiency of a process that converts chemical potential energy contained in a carrier fuel into kinetic energy or work. Overall fuel efficiency may vary per device, which in turn may vary per application, and this spectrum of variance is...
than in any other city in this trial.
By June 2005 the Perth buses had covered more than 60000 kilometres (37,282 mi) and completed almost 3,000 operational hours, with almost 60,000 passengers having used the service.
- In 2004, STEP was achieved a Chartered Institute of Logistics and TransportChartered Institute of Logistics and TransportThe Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport is a professional body representing the transport and logistics industries worldwide...
Outstanding Achievement award. - In 2005, it was presented with a Banksia awardBanksia Environmental FoundationThe Banksia Environmental Foundation is an Australian organisation created in 1989 to support and confer recognition on individuals and organisations that make a positive contribution to the environment. The Foundation launched the annual Banksia Environmental Awards in the same year...
in the "Government Leading by Example for a Sustainable Future" category.
Partners
The buses were manufactured by DaimlerChryslerDaimlerChrysler
Daimler AG is a German car corporation. By unit sales, it is the thirteenth-largest car manufacturer and second-largest truck manufacturer in the world. In addition to automobiles, Daimler manufactures buses and provides financial services through its Daimler Financial Services arm...
, the manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, and use fuel cell
Fuel cell
A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used...
engine
Engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
s manufactured by XCELLSIS Fuel Cell Engines, now a division of Ballard Power Systems
Ballard Power Systems
Ballard Power Systems , located in Burnaby, British Columbia -- a suburb of Vancouver -- is a company that designs, develops, and manufactures zero emission proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells. This company has made a bus that uses only hydrogen fuel cells. These fuel cells combine hydrogen and...
, developed as an alliance of Ballard, DaimlerChrysler, and Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
. A number of the cities are receiving their hydrogen from BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
. The trial is being independently evaluated, mostly by Murdoch University
Murdoch University
Murdoch University is a public university based in Perth, Australia. It began operations as the state's second university in 1973, and accepted its first students in 1975...
.
External links
- Official website of the Fuel Cell Bus Club (also the official website of CUTE)
- Official website of Icelandic New Energy (includes details of ECTOS)
- Official EcoBus website
- Realtime updates of the positions of the STEP buses
- Technical Information of Hydrogen Buses