RVK’s hydrogen buses
Regionalverkehr Köln has been using hydrogen-powered buses on its intercity routes since 2020. In a fuel cell, they generate electricity by reacting hydrogen with oxygen in the air, which they then use to travel. They travel without any emissions, the only thing that can ‘come out the back’ is chemically pure water vapour. At low temperatures, you can sometimes see a small, thin cloud rising above the rear of the bus: that’s not exhaust fumes, it’s water vapour.
In 2020, the first large delivery of 35 hydrogen buses arrived at RVK: ‘New A 330 FC’ vehicles from the Belgian manufacturer Van Hool. Two ‘Phileas 18’ hydrogen articulated buses from the Dutch manufacturer APTS (Advanced Public Transport Systems) had already been delivered to RVK in 2010 and two Van Hool New A 330 FC buses in 2014. The 2020 Van Hool buses came from a joint order with Wuppertaler Stadtwerke WSW.
From 2021, 48 hydrogen buses of the ‘Urbino 12 hydrogen’ type from Solaris followed, also initially ordered jointly with Wuppertal’s WSW. By the end of 2023, RVK already had 85 buses with this drive technology – no other transport company in Europe could (and can) keep up.
In September this year, the first 18 ‘Solaris Urbino 18 hydrogen’ articulated hydrogen buses arrived at RVK. Eight of them arrived at the Wermelskirchen depot, from where they are deployed on VRS line 260 (Remscheid – Wermelskirchen – Burscheid – Leverkusen – Cologne-Mülheim – Cologne Central Station). The 260 takes almost exactly two hours from end to end, so a round trip including turnaround times in Remscheid and Cologne takes 4.5 hours. – The remaining ten articulated coaches went to other depots, for example to Meckenheim (near Bonn).
With these 18 articulated buses, the RVK already had 103 hydrogen buses. But that’s not all: in November, 31 more buses with hydrogen fuel cells arrived (103 + 31 = 134 vehicles). Following appropriate driver training, they are now going into service. For example, from the Meckenheim depot, but also on the Hürth urban transport service operated by RVK. RVK boss Dr Marcel Frank: ‘The Meckenheim depot is our gateway to the left bank of the Rhine in the Rhine-Sieg district (Siegburg district).’
And the RVK is by no means satisfied with these 134 hydrogen buses. A further 58 vehicles are ‘in the pipeline’ for delivery in 2025.
The Wrightbus Kite Hydroliner FCEV for the RVK
Let’s take a closer look at the 31 buses that arrived in November. Because they are a first, not just for Germany, but for the whole of Europe, as long as you drive on the right-hand side of the road. They were built by the Northern Irish bus manufacturer Wrightbus and are of its ‘Kite Hydroliner FCEV’ type. They are 11,600 mm long, 2,520 mm wide and 3,380 mm high; they can carry 90 passengers. The front axle is the ‘RL 82 EC’ from ZF, and ZF also supplies the drive axle with its ‘AV 133’. The fuel cell comes from the Canadian manufacturer Ballard, while the batteries are supplied by the Texan manufacturer Microvast. The permissible total weight is 19,500 kg. Wrightbus quotes a range of 720 kilometres for a vehicle fully fuelled with 32 kg of hydrogen – what diesel bus would get that far? If the pressurised hydrogen cylinders (with a pressure of 350 bar) run completely empty, it only takes eight minutes to refill them completely.
The new hydrogen refuelling station in Meckenheim
And how does the hydrogen get into the bus? Well, quite simply at a refuelling station. The RVK already has one of these, for example at the depots in Meckenheim and Wermelskirchen. Here, the hydrogen is delivered by tanker lorry. In Wesseling city transport, refuelling takes place at a public hydrogen filling station in the city. Things are a little different for the buses that run in the urban transport services of the two neighbouring towns of Hürth and Brühl. Hürth is home to the ‘Chempark Hürth’, and its production also produces hydrogen – which is not actually the aim of production. But now the hydrogen buses from the Hürth and Brühl city transport services travel to the Chempark and refuel here, and the Meckenheim depot will get the hydrogen from the Chempark Hürth, too.
However, with the constant expansion of the use of hydrogen buses, the existing hydrogen refuelling station at the Meckenheim depot is becoming too small. The RVK therefore acquired a plot of land in the Meckenheim ‘Unternehmerpark’ industrial estate, where a larger hydrogen refuelling station is now being built next to the road from Meckenheim to Bonn-Röttgen. Construction began on 27 November and the facility is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2025. The construction of the ‘green refuelling station’ was made necessary by a funding commitment from the Federal Ministry of Transport in 2022, on the basis of which RVK will significantly expand its fleet of hydrogen buses by mid-2025. It won’t be long until then, so the construction of the new refuelling station is not only important, but also urgent.
RVK has leased the land to ‘Air Products GmbH’, and this company is now building the hydrogen refuelling station here. It will also operate the facility after completion. Air Products is a US company from the state of Pennsylvania; the German subsidiary is based in Hattingen an der Ruhr.
When construction phase 1 of the hydrogen refuelling station is completed in the second quarter of 2025, RVK’s hydrogen buses will be refuelled here at a pressure of 350 bar. In construction phase 2, a public H2 filling station will be added, where private cars and lorries will also be able to refuel at a pressure of 700 bar. Jörg Hömberg, Managing Director of Air Products GmbH: ‘We are the world’s largest supplier of hydrogen. We are now one step closer to our goal of providing low-carbon energy for emission-free fleets.’ And he clarifies: ‘The entire concept of the refuelling station is designed for climate protection and sustainability. That’s why Meckenheim will only have certified hydrogen that has been produced using renewable energy.’
The ‘green filling station’ in Meckenheim will also have two charging stations with a total of four charging bays, where battery-electric cars and lorries will be able to recharge with up to 150 kW. This will also support the development of electromobility.
09.12.2024
