When It Comes To Buses, Will Hydrogen Or Electric Win?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this evcellent article on WIRED.
The WIRED article is a serious comparison between the merits of battery and hydrogen-powered buses.
The writer of the article talked to two people, who should know.
- James Dixon, who is a Research Fellow in the Transport Studies Unit and Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University
- Neil Collins, who is Managing Director of Wrightbus.
I think the philosophy of Wrightbus with four basic zero-carbon buses could be right.
- Streetdeck Hydroliner FCEV – A hydrogen-powered double-deck bus.
- Streetdeck Electroliner BEV – A battery-powered double-deck bus.
- GB Kite Hydroliner FCEV – A hydrogen-powered single-deck bus.
- GB Kite Electroliner BEV – A battery-powered single-deck bus.
This surely is a basis for satisfying customers, who like to buy what they feel is best for their networks and passengers.
This paragraph from the Wired article, illustrates how terrain and climate might favour one bus or the other.
Still, hydrogen may be a better option in a city with lots of hills, like Hong Kong, where it’s also very warm and humid, says Collins. “That’s going to be a problem for electric buses, because the cooling and the hills are just going to drain the batteries,” he says. “But if the city is relatively flat, and the journey times are relatively short, and it’s not either significantly warm or significantly cold, battery electric can do a very good job.”
In addition, you wouldn’t choose hydrogen buses, if supply of hydrogen was difficult.
Could this be why Jo Bamford, who is the owner of Wightbus, has established a company to help bus operators with the transition to hydrogen. I wrote about it in New Company Established To Help Transition Bus Fleets To Hydrogen.
I have also heard stories of garages in city centres, where it is not possible to get enough power to charge a garage full of battery buses. Some of these garages are in residential areas, which perhaps may not welcome tankers of hydrogen going through to supply the buses with hydrogen.
Perhaps, the solution for garages like this is to relocate the garage to a site, which fulfils one of these conditions.
- Good connections to the motorway and trunk road network, so that hydrogen can be brought in by truck.
- A high-capacity electricity supply to either charge battery electric buses or generate hydrogen using an electrolyser.
Buses would operate according to this daily cycle.
- Buses would either be charged or refuelled with hydrogen overnight.
- They would position to a convenient place to start their daily diagrams.
- At the end of the day, they would return to the garage.
Note.
- Battery-electric buses may need to be topped-up during the day.
- Hydrogen buses with their longer range should be able to service routes further away.
- Routes would be arranged, so that hydrogen buses would not need to be topped up.
The big advantage of a remote bus garage is that the city centre site could be redeveloped to pay for the new buses and garage.
Whitelee Green Hydrogen Facility To Power Public Transport
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
Some points from the article.
- It will be the country’s largest electrolyser. Is that Scotland or the UK?
- The facility is being built by Scottish Power, ITM Power and BOC.
- Friends of the Earth think it’s wrong and the electricity should be used immediately.
In ScottishPower’s Green Hydrogen Project Looks To Build UK’s Largest Electrolyser, the title says that the Whitelee project will be the UK’s largest electrolyser.
Order! Order! It’s A Bus-y Time For Wrightbus
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ballymena Times.
This is the first paragraph.
The Wrightbus order book continues to be busy. The Go-Ahead Group has signed a contract to buy its first hydrogen powered buses, as part of a deal which could become the largest of its kind in Europe.
Let’s hope that this is the start of something big!
Northern Ireland Spends £100m On Clean Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Electrive.
If Wrightbus can’t rely on the Northern Irish government to buy their buses, who can they?
Go-Ahead Group Signs Contract For Its First Hydrogen Fuel Cell Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Intelligent Transport.
This is the first paragraph.
Brighton & Hove and Metrobus have ordered 20 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which are set to be delivered in June 2022, signalling the Go-Ahead Group’s first order of hydrogen powered buses.
The vehicles are single-decker GB Kite Hydroliner FCEV buses.
These buses can be configured to carry up to ninety passengers and they have a range of up to 640 miles.
The article says these buses are for Faraway-branded express buses, so the long range will enable buses to be garaged centrally and refuelled once a day.
It looks like this could be the first of several orders from Go-Ahead for hydrogen buses.
Wrightbus Presents Electric & Fuel Cell Single-Decker Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on Electrive.
This is the first paragraph.
The Northern Irish bus manufacturer Wrightbus is introducing a new single-deck bus with battery and fuel cell propulsion. The new models of the GB Kite series in the Hydroliner FCEV and Electroliner BEV variants can each accommodate up to 90 passengers and are scheduled to go into series production in 2022.
This means that Wrightbus now have single and double-deck zero emission buses with both battery and fuel cell propulsion.
These are my thoughts.
High Commonality
There may be four different buses, but they have a surprising amount in common.
In this press release on the Wrightbus web site, which is entitled Wrightbus To Showcase Two New Zero-Emission Buses, there is this paragraph.
Both buses share an 86% parts commonality with their Double Deck sisters which delivers significant benefits to operators in terms of reducing complexity and costs for fleet maintenance.
Vehicle manufacturers have been looking for high commonality for many decades and it is amazing that Wrightbus have achieved such a figure.
We mustn’t forget the advantages, Wrightbus will get from such commonality in terms of production, product support and the supply of parts and sub assemblies.
Passenger Capacity
The passenger capacity of the four buses are as follows.
- Double-decker – Hydrogen – 86
- Double-decker – Battery – 95
- Single-decker – Hydrogen – 90
- Single-decker – Battery – 90
Note.
- These figures come from the Wrightbus web site.
- The site says that the figures for the single-decker buses depend on bus length and specification.
Does the similar capacity of all the buses give operators more flexibility?
Range
The range of the four buses are as follows.
- Double-decker – Hydrogen – 350 miles
- Double-decker – Battery – 200 miles
- Single-decker – Hydrogen – 640 miles
- Single-decker – Battery – 300 miles
Note.
- These figures come from the Wrightbus web site or the press release for the new single-deck buses.
- These ranges are claimed by Wrightbus as best-in-class.
- But surely the range of 640 miles for a single-deck zero-carbon hydrogen bus opens up some interesting and unusual routes.
- Single-deck buses appear to have a longer range than their double-deck sisters.
There is also a degree of battery size flexibility in the battery-electric buses to suit an operator’s routes.
Single-deck battery-electric buses are available with these battery sizes and charging times.
- 340kWh – 2 ½ hours @ 150kW
- 454kWh – 3 hours @ 150kW
- 567kWh – 3 ½ hours @ 150kW
And these are the figures for the double-deck battery-electric buses.
- 340kWh – 2 ½ hours @ 150kW
- 454kWh – 3 hours @ 150kW
Note.
- Both single- and double-deck buses can use the two smaller batteries.
- I would assume that they are similar and it’s all part of the commonality.
- Both buses can also be fitted with a pantograph to charge the batteries, when the routes present an opportunity.
Could the largest battery be fitted to the double-deck bus? Perhaps at some point, but I suspect, that currently, a weight limitation applies.
The Fuel Cell
This sentence from the Electrive article, describes the fuel cell system of the hydrogen bus.
The fuel cell solo bus model is very similar in design. Instead of the pure BEV drive, the GB Kite Hydroliner FCEV has a Ballard FCmove fuel cell with 70 kW or 100 kW and a small supplementary battery with 30 or 45 kWh on board.
It appears, there is flexibility in the power.
Forsee Batteries From France
This paragraph from the Electrive article, talks about the batteries.
Incidentally, Forsee Power is acting as the supplier of the batteries for the BEV buses. The Bamford Group, new parent of Wrightbus, had extended the partnership with the French battery manufacturer in October 2020 with a new contract for several hundred battery systems per year. Forsee Power announced the introduction of extra-thin battery modules earlier this year and directly named Wrightbus as the launch customer for the modules of the new Slim series. Whether these batteries are now already being installed in the two Electroliners is not specified. However, the high storage capacity of the 567-kWh top battery leads us to assume this, at least for the solo bus model.
Forsee’s slimline batteries seem a major advance in the powering of vehicles like buses.
It certainly looks like extra-thin is beautiful, where batteries are concerned.
Conclusion
This is a formidable line-up of four zero-carbon buses, that can be tailored to an operator’s needs.
When linked tom Jo Bamford’s company; FUZE, which I wrote about in New Company Established To Help Transition Bus Fleets To Hydrogen, Bamford’s deck of cards look even stronger.
Will Jo Bamford do for the bus industry, what his grandfather did for diggers? I wouldn’t bet against it!
Could London’s New Routemaster Buses Be Converted To Hydrogen Power?
There are a thousand New Routemaster buses on the roads of London.
This paragraph from Wikipedia describes the transmission.
The bus is a hybrid diesel-electric driven by a battery-powered electric motor, charged by a diesel fuelled generator and recovering energy during braking by regenerative braking.
Note.
- The Cummins diesel engine is under the back stairs and is mounted high up. You can sometimes hear it start and stop if you sit or stand at the back of the bus.
- The diesel engine is part of the Cummins B Series Engine family, which is used very widely, included in vehicles like the Dodge Ram pick-up.
- The battery is mounted under the front stairs.
Cummins are embracing hydrogen in a big way and bought hydrogen company; Hydrogenics in 2019.
This press release from Cummins is entitled Cummins Begins Testing Of Hydrogen Fueled Internal Combustion Engine.
This is the first paragraph.
Cummins has taken another step forward in advancing zero carbon technology as the company began testing a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine. The proof-of-concept test is building on Cummins’ existing technology leadership in gaseous-fuel applications and powertrain leadership to create new power solutions that help customers meet the energy and environmental needs of the future.
Only today in Deutz Hydrogen Engine Ready For Market, I reported on how Deutz were going down a similar route.
I have done consultancy work for Cummins in Darlington, where I suspect the New Routemaster engines were built and the company prides itself in being able to provide a specially-laid out diesel engine for a niche-market application.
If they develop a hydrogen replacement for the B Series engine, I suspect that they will adopt the same sales philosophy.
For a start, it would enable all their many existing customers to convert their products from diesel to hydrogen power.
A hydrogen engine would be a direct way to enable conversion of a New Routemaster to hydrogen.
- The new hydrogen engine and generator would just replace the current diesel engine and generator.
- The chassis, body, battery and traction motor could be retained.
- I am also sure, that Wrightbus have the expertise to squeeze a hydrogen tank in somewhere.
.I believe that in a few years Cummins will be able to replace the diesel engine with a hydrogen engine of equivalent size and power.
After Ricardo announced their fuel cell approach to convert modern diesel buses to hydrogen, which I wrote about in Ricardo To Engineer Zero Emission Buses For UK’s First Hydrogen Transport Hub, I am sure we’re going to see thousands of modern buses converted to hydrogen power.
Conclusion
I believe from my knowledge of Cummins and the way they work, that they will come up with a hydrogen-based solution, that will replace the Cummins diesel in these buses with a zero-carbon engine.
If Cummins don’t then someone else will.
Whoever solves the problem of converting London’s new Routemasters to hydrogen will have one of the best adverts for their product, there has ever been.
After converting London’s thousand Routemasters, the engineers could move on to anything powered by a Cummins engine.
Ricardo To Engineer Zero Emission Buses For UK’s First Hydrogen Transport Hub
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article from Ricardo.
This is the first paragraph.
As part of its mission to support the decarbonisation of the global transport and energy sectors Ricardo, a world-class environmental, engineering and strategic consulting company, has announced that it has received Government funding to create a retrofit hydrogen fuel cell bus demonstrator for the UK’s first hydrogen transport hub in the north-east of England.
The market for refitting buses with hydrogen power is large, as this sentence from the press release shows.
There are 38,000 buses in service in the UK: 98% are diesel powered; and 50% are less than eight years old.
And that’s just the UK!
The last paragraph sums up Ricardo’s ambitions.
Ricardo will develop a scalable, modular solution, enabling it to be installed, with minimal adaption, to multiple single and double decker platforms. The modular concept may also be saleable as a ‘new fuel cell’ module to coach builders across the European Union enabling them to develop new fuel cell
buses by taking a rolling chassis and applying their coach build body alongside the fuel cell module solution.
Never underestimate Ricardo!
New Company Established To Help Transition Bus Fleets To Hydrogen
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on H2 View.
These first two paragraphs describe the company.
A new asset financed company has been launched to help design, deliver, and finance the seamless transition to a zero-emissions bus fleet with hydrogen included.
Launched by Wrightbus owner Jo Bamford today (August 9), FUZE will support the energy transition to cleaner variants by offering packages that enable the transition to hydrogen or electric fleets of buses.
If Jo Bamford gets this right, it could certainly smooth the transition to hydrogen and electric buses, where bus companies will be introducing new technology.
The words asset-based make me think, that buses, fuelling systems and chargers could all be hired on a bus-by-the-hour basis in much the same way train manufacturing companies like Hitachi and Stadler supply trains to the train operating companies.
The manufacturers are contracted to supply so many trains each day and if there are reliability or availability problems, then they must compensate the operators. That model would surely work with buses.
- I also suspect the model would allow flexibility, as to the choice of either an electric or hydrogen bus.
- I also think, that the model would be able to provide short-term deals for large events and Rail Replacement services.
- Buses no longer needed could also be returned, repainted and hired by another operator.
- FUZE could also have a standby fleet, so any bus operator wanting to try hydrogen buses for a month, could enter into a short-term deal.
I also think that this new generation of buses can open up innovative ideas for bus use. In Three Hydrogen Double Decker Buses Set For Dublin, I describe how Dublin will use just three hydrogen buses to create a fast commuter route.
Conclusion
I like it!
Short Term Hire Of Buses
I have a feeling that if say you wanted to hire a small fleet of buses for say a festival like Glastonbury, that hydrogen buses could be the better bet.
Suppose you wanted to run a fleet of five buses to and from the car park at the nearest rail station.
- Feeding the chargers for five buses will need a substantial electricity feed.
- Hydrogen buses can be refuelled from a mobile fuelling station.
- Hydrogen buses can probably run all day on one refuelling.
The ease of refuelling would appear to favour the hydrogen bus.
Three Hydrogen Double Decker Buses Set For Dublin
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on H2 View.
This article is different to other hydrogen bus stories.
These buses are being used on a Dublin commuter service; 105X between Dublin and Ratoath.
- The shortest distance is 16 miles by the M2 Motorway.
- The current service between Ratoath and O’Connell Street takes around an hour, but doesn’t appear to use the Motorway.
- There seem to be three services into Dublin in the morning and three services out in the evening.
Could it be, that if this service is run on the Motorway with a faster hydrogen bus, allowed to go faster than the 65 kph limit for buses in Ireland, that would knock significant time from the journey?
My rough estimate says that times of the order of under forty minutes are possible.
Conclusion
Hydrogen buses have been chosen for this route for various reasons.
- One overnight refuelling will last all day.
- No time will be wasted during the day in charging batteries.
- The bus probably carries a large fuel reserve to cope with traffic delays.
- As the buses are the latest design with lots of modern features, they could attract passengers.
- The buses are probably certified for higher speeds than older buses.
- The three commuter services will each be hydrogen buses, but if there is a minor failure, I suspect a diesel bus can substitute.
- Surely, if the buses did the journey faster, extra services could be phased in throughout the day.
I think we could be seeing hydrogen buses on commuter routes into our major towns and cities.
The Dublin purchase of hydrogen buses for one specific route could be significant.
I shall be watching it with interest.
The Anonymous Widower 