Air Liquide – We’ve had faith in hydrogen for a long time, Van Hool, Europe’s largest manufacturer of hydrogen buses.
Van Hool — manufacturer of buses, coaches and industrial vehicles — builds each year an average of about 1,400 buses and coaches in Koningshooikt (Belgium) and Skopje (North Macedonia). The company also produces 3,000 industrial vehicles, such as semi-trailers and tankers. In 2005, Van Hool decided to focus on hydrogen, with Van Hool now European market leader for hydrogen-powered buses.
Sander Sijssens, Senior Project Engineer Energy Transport Systems at Van Hool.
We’ve had faith in hydrogen for a long time, partly because we came across it very early on, through customers in California.
“The hydrogen drive was initially supplied by an American developer, but we soon realised that we could do it ourselves. Shortly after that, we built the first truly Van Hool hydrogen bus, along with such partners as Air Liquide and Siemens.”
3Emotion
In 2015, Van Hool committed to 3Emotion, a European initiative to encourage hydrogen bus development. In conjunction with the other members of the consortium, including Air Liquide, Van Hool is constructing 12 hydrogen buses to be used in cities such as London, Rotterdam, Pau, Versailles and Aalborg.
In addition to the 12 buses for the 3Emotion project, Van Hool has so far built more than 130 hydrogen-powered buses for similar projects all over Europe. The biggest customer is the German RVK – Regional Verkehr Köln – which has no fewer than 37 hydrogen buses in use.
“We’re expecting a big growth in demand for hydrogen buses in the next few years. We’re already delivering around 100 hydrogen-powered buses a year but, if necessary, we can bring in extra production lines to increase that number even further.”
A real alternative to diesel
Sander Sijssens is pleased with the feedback from Van Hool’s hydrogen bus customers: “Most of them are enthusiastic about the reliability and performance of the buses. In particular, the driving behaviour, the range, the fuel consumption and their wide deployability are often mentioned as strong points. Our customers are in complete agreement that hydrogen is a real alternative to diesel.”
“Hydrogen buses are suited to longer distances because it’s possible to fill up quickly with large quantities of hydrogen, which can then be used for a whole day’s driving. Often several days even. We usually guarantee a range of 350 km, but in practice it’s often a lot more.”
Electric or hydrogen?
“With electric buses it’s a bit more difficult,” Sander continues. “That’s because the charging times are a lot longer, which brings with it some limitations and practical issues. Fast charging partly solves these problems, but then again it has a negative impact on the life of the components.”
“If you want to be able to provide the same services with electric buses, you need more buses than if you opt for hydrogen. And your electricity infrastructure also has to be able to cope with the extra load. On the other hand, buses used to transport employees to and from work, for example, usually need only a limited range. In which case you don’t need to use a hydrogen bus.”
More hydrogen stations
“Because it’s now clear that the number of hydrogen-powered buses will increase sharply in the near future, it’s important we adapt the distribution and supply of hydrogen stations accordingly, as well as the capacity of each individual station.
Even at peak times – trucks often fill up in the morning and many private individuals like to fill up just before the weekend – it has to be possible to refuel without annoying waiting times. We’re also working hard, partly in collaboration with Air Liquide engineers, to optimise the communication protocols for refuelling.”
When a bus, or any other vehicle, refuels with hydrogen, information must be continuously exchanged between the refuelling station and the vehicle. This allows the vehicle to refuel quickly, efficiently and safely at the right pressure and temperature.
Many hydrogen cars use an infrared communication system that is gradually becoming standard. Such an approach is also starting to become more common in the heavy goods vehicle sector.
This is why Van Hool has developed an infrared communication system with which
buses and other heavy vehicles can communicate with hydrogen stations. The new system has been extensively tested, and approved, at the Air Liquide hydrogen station in Zaventem.
Prospects for the future
“We’re working hard on a new platform for hydrogen-powered buses that will soon offer greater range and lower consumption. The buses will also be able to carry more passengers and have a longer service life. More importantly, the TCO will also drop significantly. In any event, we must all ensure that in the long run hydrogen buses will be no more expensive than diesel buses.”
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“We’ve had faith in hydrogen for a long time”, October 11, 2021