Toyota to supply its hydrogen fuel cell systems technology to Caetanobus SA (Portugal) Europe
26 September 2018
Toyota announced that it will provide its hydrogen fuel cell technology to Caetanobus SA in Portugal. Toyota will supply its fuel cell systems, including fuel cell stacks, hydrogen tanks and other key components to Caetanobus SA—the Portuguese bus engineering and production company—to build hydrogen fuel cell city buses.
The first fuel cell city buses will roll off the lines of Caetanobus SA in a little over a year, and are to be operated as demonstration buses by Caetanobus SA.
In line with its vision of a decarbonized society—as stated in its 2050 environmental challenge—Toyota is promoting the application of its hydrogen fuel cell technology beyond passenger cars, including heavy-duty trucks, small delivery trucks, forklifts and buses.
Supplying our fuel cell systems to Caetanobus demonstrates the many practical uses and environmental benefits of hydrogen towards a carbon-free society. We’re really excited by the prospect of seeing the first buses of our longstanding automotive partner in European cities.
Hydrogen buses have significant advantages compared to other zero emission buses, such as superior driving range and short refuelling time. These benefits allow hydrogen buses to be operated on longer routes and a higher utilization.
—Dr Johan van Zyl, President and CEO, Toyota Motor Europe
The announcement was made in Lisbon during the visit of the Energy Observer catamaran, the first hydrogen sea vessel powered purely by renewable solar and hydrogen energy.
Compare this with smoking, roaring diesels, when they shift gears it feels like the transmission will fall out.
Posted by: SJC | 26 September 2018 at 05:16 PM
Or maybe compare this with a Proterra Battery Electric Bus with a lower overall operating cost and twice the energy efficiency and more than sufficient range for almost any imaginable transit bus route (over 300 miles or 500 km operating range).
Posted by: sd | 26 September 2018 at 08:48 PM
Thats a good comment and no doubt people considering such aquisitions will do exactly that.
I guess for me the question will be: after all the batteries are full and the appliances sated and we are faced with surplus electrons at the end of a transmission line what do we do? In the not so distant past the grid had (and no doubt today still has dummy loads. Dummy loads are (or were recently?) a necessary component of off grid renewable systems. Dummy loads simply converted surplus to heat to keep systems stable.
Today there are many second tier opportunities to store the same surpluses and we can expect an increasing range of efficiency options to be available from battery pumped hydro and many others depending on grid or off grid availability.
To say that H2 is low efficiency option is fairly irrelevant when compared to the options available in the recent past.
Even if H2 is found to be economically questionable because other options make more sense , the rate of accelerated technology roll out for these and other solutions will barely keep pace with increases in demand . In respect of renewable hydrogen global demand ex transport will far exceed the next decades
of forecast output.
Is the exploration of H2 transport solutions handicapping battery development?
Is the investment in battery technology detrimental to 'towards zero C ' terms problematic to the developing r.e. H2 industry.
I would think not. I suspect that the respective industries are symbiotic and these straw man arguments are not well founded.
It may be one subject where economic rationalism is bucking the trend.
Posted by: Arnold | 27 September 2018 at 04:55 AM
The electricity has to be there for an EV bus, maybe a coal fired power plant. The hydrogen for this can come from reformed renewable methane.
Posted by: SJC | 27 September 2018 at 12:12 PM
All electric (e-buses) have range problems, special on cold winter days, when heating consumes as much if not more than drive train, unless they are equipped with very high efficiency heat pumps and/or gas heaters.
Posted by: HarveyD | 27 September 2018 at 12:27 PM
City buses have short, predictable routes and mandated rest stops for drivers at the end of route. They always park in the same lot at night.
Ideal for the less expensive, lower maintenance battery electric drive trains.
A case for FCVs for semis, over the road coaches and luxury RVs could be made if there were a nationwide H2 infrastructure, but there’s not.
At $15kg, that will be a steep grade to climb.
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 29 September 2018 at 09:27 AM