Daimler’s Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid has won the fuel cell bus category of the inaugural German EBUS public transport awards announced on 28 September. Roman Biondi, brand spokesman for Mercedes-Benz buses and EvoBus, and Ulrich Piotrowski, the Market Launch Manager for Mercedes-Benz hybrid and electric buses, accepted the award in Cologne from Professor Ralph Pütz of the Landshut University of Applied Sciences, in the presence of Rainer Bomba, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development.
In the battery-electric bus category, Solaris’ Urbino electric city bus was the winner. The jury awarded the prize to the Polish bus builder Solaris for its “exemplary commitment and the courageous progress in the development of electrically-powered public transport buses using batteries.” The award was accepted on behalf of the company by Małgorzata Olszewska, Member of the Board for Sales and Marketing.
The Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid powertrain comprising its fuel cell stack, lithium-ion battery and electric motor, gives the Mercedes-Benz city bus a zero-emissions range of over 300km/187 miles. The judges particularly welcomed the use of a fuel cell that had already been deployed by Mercedes-Benz in a passenger car, and said that the 17 Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid buses already built emphasised the seriousness with which the development has been driven forward by Daimler Buses.
Thanks to improved fuel cell components (the fuel cell stacks are now identical to those in the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL) and hybridisation with 27kWh lithium-ion batteries, the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid consumers 50% less hydrogen consumption compared with its predecessor. As a result, it has been possible to reduce the number of tanks from nine on board the fuel-cell buses deployed in earlier trials to seven, holding 35kg of hydrogen in all. With the new FuelCELL Hybrid drive system, the fuel cell is intelligently linked to several components: to the battery, to the electric wheel hub drive and also to the integrated regenerative braking system. Refuelling time is eight to ten minutes.
The Solaris Urbino electric was developed in cooperation with its powertrain supplier, Vossloh Kiepe GmbH. The midi-bus version recognised in the EBUS Award uses lithium-ion batteries to store up to 120kWh. The Urbino electric city bus is now also available in a standard-length, 12-metre version. Optimised for maximum range with a battery capacity of 210kWh, the bus is capable of running for 150km/45 miles in the SORT 2 cycle. The modular system is prepared for automated fast charging systems such as inductive power supply. This allows the batteries to be topped up along the route or at the terminus, eliminating problems of limited operational range.
The first operator to order the Solaris Urbino electric is Braunschweiger Verkehrs-AG from Germany. This Solaris electric bus, which will be delivered in 2013, is a part of a new drive technology pilot programme funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development.
The EBUS awards were made by a jury of the Forum für Verkehr und Logistik, established by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) and the insurance company DEVK, under the patronage of German Federal Minister of Transport Peter Ramsauer. Scientific supervision was provided by Dirk-Uwe Sauer from the Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives at the research university of technology, the RWTH Aachen. It is planned to next offer the environmental award for public local transport in 2014.
