Mercedes-Benz fuel cell hybrid buses get green light

Fuel cell hybrid buses are no longer a distant dream – because the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL hybrid buses will enter service next year as part of the Clean Hydrogen in European Cities (CHIC) project.

The campaign, funded by the European Union, began in Cologne on Thursday, and will see 26 fuel cell buses integrated into regular daily services in five European cities with at least three manufacturers – Mercedes-Benz, Wrightbus and Van Hool – to be involved.

Vehicles will go into service in Aarau, Bolzano, Milan, London and Oslo with the idea being to gradually introduce the buses and set up fleets and the necessary infrastructure. Further experience will be gained from projects in cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Whistler in Canada. This will be used to guide 14 regions of Europe through the next stage as they start to set up fuel cell fleets and infrastructure.

As for the Citaro Fuel Cell Hybrid itself, it features fuel cell components and hybridisation with lithium-ion batteries. It consumes almost 50 per cent less hydrogen than the previous generation and has a range of 155miles.

Daimler has already placed 36 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses with a second generation fuel cell drive into operation with 12 transport operators on three continents.