The Municipal Transport Company (MPK) in Poznań has announced a tender for the supply of new, low-floor, environmentally friendly electric city buses powered by hydrogen. A procedure for the supply and distribution of hydrogen fuel is also underway.
MPK Poznań intends to purchase up to 25 buses with a standard length of 12 meters (22 vehicles, with an option clause providing for the possibility of purchasing a maximum of 3 additional buses). In addition to a modern, zero-emission drive, the vehicles will be equipped similarly to the rest of the MPK Poznań fleet. They will be low-floor vehicles with a ramp for wheelchair users. The buses will also feature a modern passenger information system, surveillance, and full-vehicle air conditioning.
– The purchase of hydrogen-powered buses is an important step towards ecological public transport – says Jacek Jaśkowiak, Mayor of Poznań. – If both tender procedures conducted by MPK Poznań, for the supply of hydrogen and buses, are concluded as we hope, the first zero-emission hydrogen buses will hit the city streets in a year and a half.
Hydrogen buses – as these types of vehicles are commonly called – are, in fact, electric buses with a hydrogen fuel cell that acts as an “on-board power plant.” The electricity generated powers the vehicle, and the only products of the reaction taking place in the cell are heat and water vapor. The range of hydrogen buses is comparable to that of vehicles with conventional drives. This means that the vehicles – unlike battery-electric buses – do not require charging at the ends of routes and will be able to be used on all transport lines operated by MPK Poznań.
– Hydrogen buses are a completely new type of rolling stock and a completely new experience. We want to prepare well for the operation of hydrogen vehicles and ensure the safety of employees and passengers. Therefore, the contractor selected in the tender procedure will not only supply us with the vehicles but will also train our staff, including drivers and technical support personnel, in their operation – says Krzysztof Dostatni, President of the Management Board of MPK Poznań.
At the end of January this year, a procedure was announced for the supply and distribution of hydrogen fuel in an estimated amount of 1,800,000 kg (with the possibility of increasing the order). Fuel deliveries are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2023, when the first hydrogen buses start arriving at the company, and will continue until mid-2038. They can be carried out either at an external hydrogen refueling station, to which the travel time by bus from the depot on Warszawska Street will not exceed 20 minutes, or at a station built by the supplier on the premises of the depot on Warszawska Street. The refueling time for one vehicle, including all additional activities, must not exceed 20 minutes. Refueling of the buses will take place primarily at night.
The purchase of hydrogen buses is possible thanks to MPK Poznań obtaining funding from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management program called “Green Public Transport,” the goal of which is to avoid air pollution emissions by co-financing projects aimed at reducing the use of emission-heavy fuels in transport.
Source: MPK Poznań