Germany to receive fuel cell-powered city buses

Germany's Minister of Economic Affairs plans to sign a contract on February 17 for the delivery of two buses to the city of Cologne, according to Nedstack, a Netherlands-based fuel cell developer.

Nedstack manufactures proton exchange membrane (PEM)-based hydrogen fuel cells that combine hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction to produce electricity.

Buses are a better platform for fuel cells, the company said, because they can store enough compressed hydrogen within their extra space for a typical city route, and can better accommodate the reformer which extracts hydrogen from other stored fuel like methanol or natural gas.

"Fuel cell-electric drives are, in the end, the most effective that exist, with pure water as the only emission product", said NedStack Vice President Jan Piet van der Meer.

The 105 person buses are to be delivered by 2010.

Pasadena, Calif.-based transportation technology developer Calstart is also testing hydrogen fuel-cell powered transit buses in a $24 million program in the state, with $12 million of support from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (see Calstart starts up fuel cell bus projects).

Critics of hydrogen-based fuel cell based vehicles point to their expense, the lack of a widespread low cost hydrogen distribution system, the hydrocarbon intensity of commercial hydrogen production today and concerns about driving vehicles storing hydrogen.

Last week in the U.S., officials in Calfornia were shown an electric city bus designed and manufactured by Proterra of Colorado (see New all-electric passenger bus technology debuts).

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