From Route One
Testing as electric bus will be followed by
addition of hydrogen range extender by the end of 2016
South Yorkshire-based electric driveline
specialist Magtec has announced that it is to create what is believed to be the
world’s first hydrogen fuel
cell-equipped double-decker.
The small fuel cell unit will act as a range
extender in an existing bus that Magtec has converted to battery electric
power, and will be able to provide a constant 10kW/h of energy to the
batteries.
Speaking at the Cenex exhibition at
Millbrook Proving Ground last week, Magtec Managing Director Marcus Jenkins
says that the bus – a 2008 Wrightbus
Gemini HEV – has lost its original
hybrid driveline and will very soon go to London as a battery electric bus
for in-service testing on route 308 with
Tower Transit.
It will then return to Magtec for addition
of the range extender before further evaluation in the capital.
“Battery capacity is 100kW/h and so over a
10-hour duty we would source the energy equally from the range extender and the
battery,” says Mr Jenkins.
“The fuel cell is completely scalable to
suit customers’ requirements and that is reflected in its price.”
Two hydrogen tanks will be mounted above
what was the engine bay. The electric power pack is “stable,” adds Mr Jenkins.
“We have been manufacturing it for many years, and while we regularly make
incremental improvements, it is essentially the same unit that is already
fitted to many other buses.”
Initial response to Magtec’s hydrogen fuel
cell range extender project from one leading London bus engineer is positive.
He points out that, while still comparatively expensive, fuel cell technology
is reliable and, unlike other range extension methods, completely emission-free
at the point of use. Subject to scalability, it will also remove the ‘range
anxiety’ of conventional electric buses.
If the trial
is successful, we could see new hydrogen buses with various bus designs such as
the Enviro400H City and the Wright SRM (New Routemaster).
The single deck
hydrogen buses are currently on route RV1 which runs between Covent Garden and Tower
Hill via the South Bank of London.
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