Toyota Motor and Hino to provide fuel-cell bus for commercial service on Tokyo airport route
07 December 2010
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and Hino Motors, Ltd. (Hino) will provide a fuel-cell hybrid bus for a commercial bus route between central Tokyo and Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) run by Airport Transport Service Co., Ltd. (Earlier post.) The provision is in response to a request from the Research Association of Hydrogen Supply/Utilization Technology (HySUT), a participant in the Hydrogen Highway Project.
TMC and Hino will modify their jointly developed “FCHV-BUS” fuel-cell hybrid bus to airport-route specifications and lease it to HySUT, and HySUT will outsource operation of the bus to Airport Transport Service. Starting on 16 December 16, the bus will make one round trip per day on a route between Shinjuku Station’s West Exit and Haneda Airport and on one between Tokyo City Air Terminal and Haneda Airport.
The bus will be fueled with hydrogen at Tokyo Suginami Hydrogen Station in central Tokyo and Haneda Hydrogen Station in Haneda; both facilities are to begin operations on 15 December.
TMC and Hino plan to analyze data from the operations of the bus and, with a mind toward practical application of fuel-cell hybrid buses, to proceed with further research and development.
TMC and Hino both brought their own technologies and expertise to the development of the vehicle, with TMC responsible for developing the fuel-cell system and Hino the body, including the chassis. The base vehicle is the Hino Blue Ribbon City non-step large-size hybrid route bus.
The vehicle, with the same specifications as the fuel-cell hybrid bus currently in operation in the vicinity of Central Japan International Airport, has been revamped inside and out, and features necessary for the route operations are being added.
The hybrid bus is fitted with two 80 kW, 260 N·m permanent magnet electric motors powered by NiMH batteries and two 90 kW PEM fuel cell stacks , and is fueled with hydrogen gas stored in tanks at 35 MPa (350 bar).
Maximum speed is 80 km/h (50 mph).
During operation, the vehicle does not emit carbon dioxide, said to be a cause of global warming, or any other atmospheric pollutant such as nitrogen oxide; it is both highly energy-efficient and very quiet.
The Hydrogen Highway Project is a part of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)’s Demonstration Program for Establishing a Hydrogen-based Social System.
Since Japan is totally dependent on foreign oil for its economy, it makes sense that they work on EVs and FCVs. Nuclear power plants can make the electricity and if battery technology continues to improve there might be a future for all of this.
Posted by: SJC | 07 December 2010 at 02:17 PM
Most probably so.
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 December 2010 at 07:15 PM