Reducing dependence on fossil fuels

The long-term goal of a fleet must be to become independent from fossil fuels. Today this is still not fully attainable. The fleet of PostBus consists primarily of diesel buses, supplemented with some natural gas and hybrid buses (diesel-electro). The latter save at least 30% of fuel in comparison with a pure diesel bus. Unfortunately due to the acquisition costs remaining high, the economic efficiency of these is not yet comparable with that of the diesel buses, which is why many pure diesel vehicles are still considered when purchasing new buses. The comparison shows the simplified advantages and disadvantages of various drive systems.

Hydro-powered fuel cell buses might be the solution. The EU has long since recognised that mobility and fossil fuels conflict with each other and decided to build a new infrastructure without the reliance on fossil fuels. Various projects are promoted for this purpose. PostBus takes part in one of these internationally observed projects: the project CHIC (Clean Hydrogen in European Cities).

Fuel Cell Buses

PostBus is the first public transport company in Switzerland to introduce fuel cell buses. This is done as part of a test supported by the EU (Project CHIC).

From the end of 2011 there will be five new fuel cell buses in scheduled services being introduced in and around Brugg in the Swiss canton of Aargau. They convert the tanked hydrogen fuel into electrical driving energy. Consequently the electrically operated postbuses run very quietly. The ejected emission consists solely of water vapour. PostBus expects to save at least 2,000 tons of CO₂ during the five year trial phase.

The principle of sustainable ecology is particularly emphasised. The required hydrogen is 100 percent recovered from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro power (naturemade basic). So the production of the required fuel CO₂ acts neutrally.

The five Citaro FuelCELL hybrid buses are low floor buses with a third generation Mercedes-Benz fuel cell drive. The prototype was launched in 2009. In 2015 the Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL hybrid buses should be ready to go into series production according to statements from the manufacturer.

The film about fuel cell postbuses

The film about fuel cell postbuses will be online starting 18 June 2012. If you want to find out how a fuel cell vehicle works, a video from Mercedes Benz about F-Cell technology is available now (on the right under Downloads).