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Two Mercedes‑Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid buses with fuel cell technology will be providing both shuttle and regular services from 23 to 27 January 2013 at the prestigious "World Economic Forum" in Davos. At the 43rd annual meeting of the charitable foundation, leading international economic experts, politicians, intellectuals and journalists will be discussing the world's most urgent challenges with regard to health and the environment. With this in mind the Mercedes‑Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid buses are an ideal means of transport. PostAuto Schweiz AG will be providing the vehicles for transporting participants.
PostAuto is the first bus company in Switzerland to use fuel cell technology in public transport. Since the end of 2011, five Mercedes‑Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid Postbuses have been employed on PostAuto regular service routes in and around Brugg (Aargau canton). PostAuto is carrying out a long-term test of fuel cell drive systems. The fuel cell Postbuses use only environmentally-friendly and sustainably produced hydrogen as a fuel. PostAuto estimates that 2000 tonnes of CO2 will be saved during the five-year test phase.
Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses is very enthusiastic about the promising future of eco-friendly fuel cell buses: "I had the opportunity to see operation on the ground. I am very impressed with how PostAuto Schweiz AG has implemented the concept."Citaro FuelCELL HybridWhen compared to the fuel cell buses which were tested from 2003 within the framework of the CUTE and HyFLEET:CUTE projects, the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid boasts fundamental innovations: hybridisation with energy recovery and storage in lithium-ion batteries, high-performance electric motors with 120 kW continuous power in the wheel hubs, electrified PTO units and further developed fuel cells. These will achieve an increased durability of at least five years or 12,000 operating hours. The fuel cell stacks of the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid are identical to those of the Mercedes‑Benz B‑Class F‑CELL with a fuel cell drive system. Both stacks are located on the vehicle's roof as was the case with earlier fuel cell buses. The lithium-ion batteries which, for example, store recovered power during braking are a new addition to the roof. The power provided by the energy reservoir means that the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid can travel several kilometres using only battery-electric power. In principle, the concept of the new FuelCELL bus correlates with the Mercedes‑Benz BlueTec Hybrid buses. A diesel generator still provides these with the necessary electric energy. In contrast, on the new FuelCELL buses, it is the fuel cells which generate electrical current for the drive motors which boast zero-emissions.
Thanks to the improved fuel cell components and the hybridisation with lithium-ion batteries, the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid saves 50 percent hydrogen in comparison to the previous generation. As a result the number of tanks has been reduced from the nine necessary for the previously tested fuel cell buses to seven and a total of 35 kg of hydrogen. The range of the fuel cell buses is greater than 300 kilometres. Thanks to these diverse technical improvements, purely electric omnibuses with fuel cells for energy generation are a definite step closer to being ready for series production.
CHIC project (Clean Hydrogen in European Cities)
The project, financed by the EU and other partners provides for the integration of 26 fuel cell buses into daily regular bus services in five European cities. The project is based on the step-by-step introduction of fuel cell buses with hydrogen drives and aims to set up bus fleets comprising fuel cell vehicles and the necessary infrastructure. In participating in the CHIC project, Daimler buses is drawing on their previous successful participation in the EU-funded CUTE and HyFLEET:CUTE projects between 2003 and 2009. A total of 36 Mercedes‑Benz Citaros with second generation fuel cell drives more than proved their worth for twelve transport operators on three continents.
PostAuto Schweiz AG
PostAuto Schweiz AG employs over 3000 employees and operates around 2100 vehicles, of which one third are Mercedes‑Benz vehicles. The company transports 120 million passengers annually. The three-tone horn and the yellow Postbuses are part of Switzerland's cultural identity. The company was successful in its application to participate in the CHIC project.Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2013, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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In the fuel cell bus category, the Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid won the EBUS Award, the environmental award for public local transport. 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 on 28 September 2012 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. Under the patronage of Dr. Peter Ramsauer, the Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Urban Development, the Forum for Transport and Logistics was offering the EBUS Award, the environmental award for public local transport, for the first time this year. “The EBUS Award recognises the efforts that have been made up to now to introduce electric buses into public local transport, and is intended as an incentive for everyone to drive forward further innovative developments in this sector”, said Professor Adolf Müller-Hellmann, chairperson of the Forum for Transport and Logistics, in his speech at the award ceremony.
The judges’ verdict
The fit-for-the-future drive concept in the Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid, which comprises the fuel cell, lithium-ion battery and electric motor, enabling the Mercedes-Benz city bus to travel over 300 kilometres without producing any emissions whatsoever, demonstrates that it is a worthy winner of the award. The judges particularly welcomed the use of a fuel cell that had already been deployed in the passenger car segment. Additionally, they said that the 17 Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid units already built emphasised the seriousness with which the development has been driven forward by Daimler Buses.
The FuelCELL concept in the Citaro
Thanks to improved fuel cell components (the fuel cell stacks are now identical to those in the Mercedes-Benz B-Class FCELL with fuel cell drive) and the hybridisation with lithium-ion batteries (27 kW/h), the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid delivers a 50-percent saving in hydrogen compared with the predecessor generation. As a result, it has been possible to reduce the number of tanks from the total of nine on board the fuel-cell buses deployed in earlier trials to seven, holding 35 kg of hydrogen in all. With the new FuelCELL Hybrid drive system, the fuel cell, as the electricity supplier, is intelligently linked to several components: to the battery, to the electric wheel hub drive and also to the integrated regenerative braking system. An internal combustion engine is now completely superfluous. The range of the fuel cell bus is over 300 kilometres, and the refuelling time is just eight to ten minutes. This means that the Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid can be deployed just as simply and flexibly as today’s diesel vehicles. What is more, the drive system and fuel cell are virtually maintenance-free and very long-lasting. With these diverse technical advances, buses running on electric power alone with fuel cells as energy generators are now a major step closer to production maturity. The Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid opens the way to permanent emissions-free public local transport, making it a key element for future mobility. The use of synergies and the technology transfer from the passenger car to the bus make the fuel cell in the bus both fit for the future, and sustainably economical for the operator.
The EBUS Award, the environmental award for public local transport
The Forum for Transport and Logistics is a joint initiative of the DEVK insurance group and the VDV (Association of German Transport Companies). The EBUS Award is being offered for the first time, and is intended to publicise externally qualitative and innovative solutions in the field of electric buses. As well as the fuel cell buses category won by the Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid, awards were also presented for the categories hybrid buses, battery-driven buses, innovative components for buses with electric drives, operating concepts, instruction, education, and training and marketing measures. Scientific supervision was provided by Professor Dr. 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.Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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PostAuto Schweiz AG has become the first company in Switzerland to deploy fuel-cell technology for public road transport. Since the end of 2011, five Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid models have been serving on routes in and around Brugg (in the canton of Aargau) as PostAuto vehicles. Over the next five years, PostAuto will test the fuel-cell drive, using clean hydrogen as fuel. The dense network of routes operated by PostAuto around Brugg is ideally suited to the test in terms of both topography and routing, with a mixture of city traffic, country roads and village streets. The routes will be operated by the PostAuto company Voegtlin-Meyer AG, which will also service and refuel the five fuel-cell post vehicles at its garage location. Aargau Canton is supporting the fuel-cell bus project with a subsidy of 1.5 million Swiss francs from the Swisslos lottery fund. PostAuto expects to save some 2 000 tonnes of CO2 during the five-year test phase.
Hartmut Schick, head of Daimler Buses, is delighted about the promising deployment of the eco-friendly fuel-cell buses: “I recently had the opportunity to see them in actual operation, and I was very impressed with the way PostAuto Schweiz has implemented the concept.”Citaro FuelCELL-Hybrid
Compared with the fuel-cell omnibuses that were tested from 2003 on as part of the CUTE and HyFLEET:CUTE projects, the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid offers significant innovations: hybridisation with energy recovery and storage in lithium-ion batteries, powerful electric motors fitted in the wheel hubs with a continuous output of 120 kW, electrified PTO units and more advanced fuel cells. These cells will have an extended service life of at least five years, or 12 000 operating hours. The fuel-cell stacks in the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid are identical to those used in the Mercedes-Benz B-Class FCELL with fuel-cell drive. As in the earlier fuel-cell buses, the two stacks are already installed on the vehicle’s roof. A new addition is lithium-ion batteries, which store energy that is recovered during braking. With the electric power from this energy accumulator, the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid is able to run for a number of kilometres on battery power alone. The concept behind the new FuelCELL bus essentially corresponds to that of the Mercedes-Benz BlueTec hybrid buses. However, these derive their electric power from a diesel generator, whereas in the new FuelCELL buses the fuel cells generate the electricity for the drive motors, without producing any emissions whatsoever.
The improved fuel-cell components and the hybridisation with lithium-ion batteries result in a reduction in hydrogen consumption of almost 50 percent for the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid compared with the previous generation. As a result, it has been possible to reduce the number of tanks from the total of nine on board the fuel-cell buses deployed in earlier trials to seven on the current vehicles, holding 35 kg of hydrogen in all. The operating range of the fuel-cell bus is over 250 kilometres. With these diverse technical advances, buses running on electric power alone with fuel cells as energy generators are now a major step closer to production maturity.
CHIC (Clean Hydrogen in European Cities) project
This EU-funded project will permit the integration of 26 fuel-cell buses into daily regular services in five European cities.
The project is based on a gradual introduction of hydrogen-powered fuel-cell buses, and aims to set up bus fleets with fuel-cell vehicles, along with the necessary infrastructure. With the CHIC project, Daimler Buses is following up on two previous successful projects, CUTE and HyFLEET:CUTE, launched by the European Union, which ran from 2003 to 2009. A total of 36 Mercedes-Benz Citaros with second-generation fuel-cell drives have already proven their worth at twelve transport operators on three continents. With more than 140 000 operating hours and a total distance travelled of over 2.2 million kilometres, Mercedes-Benz buses have demonstrated the practical application of the eco-friendly fuel-cell drive.
PostAuto Switzerland AG
PostAuto Switzerland AG has over 3 000 employees and around 2 100 vehicles in service, one third of them Mercedes-Benz models. Each year, the company transports 120 million passengers. The three-note horn and the yellow Postal Service buses are part of Switzerland’s cultural identity. The company applied for and won the tender as part of the CHIC project.Credits: Daimler AG Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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