Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Technology State of the ... - NEXTHYLIGHTS

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Technology State of the Art Review
In the European context Germany is the leading country in promoting fuel cell and
hydrogen RD&D activities. Box 1, below, summarises the German framework identifying
programmes, stakeholders and some key number of the German fuel cell and hydrogen
industry.
Box 1 The German experience on fuel cell and hydrogen RD&D programmes
As reported by Germany Trade and Invest, the foreign and inward investment agency of the
Federal Republic of Germany, the German hydrogen and fuel cell market is the largest in
Europe. The country has hosted the 70% of the European fuel cell demonstrations,
possesses a network of some 350 companies and institutes active in hydrogen and fuel cell
activities and benefits from an overall budget of €2 billion for RD&D activities throughout
2008 – 2015.
German hydrogen and fuel cell RD&D are promoted on a national level by the National
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Programme (NIP), initiated in 2006. The NIP
aims to accelerate the commercialisation of hydrogen and fuel cell technology in Germany
with the overall objective to favour the meeting of environmental targets, the creation of
sustainable jobs and the strengthening of the German technological competiveness in the
international market. The NIP is managed and implemented by the National Organisation for
hydrogen and fuel cell technology GmbH (NOW). The NOW ensures communication, funds
integration and collaborations between the regional and international projects that take place
in Germany. In other words, the NOW is a “program management organisation” which
ensures the realisation of NIP‟s goals. It coordinates an extensive network of public-private
associations that promotes regional RD&D activities (such as CEP, Fuel Cell and Hydrogen
Network NRW, HyCologne, HySolutions Hamburg, etc.).
The NIP has a budget of €1.4 billion (for the period 2007-2016) provided by a number of
Federal Ministries and private industry partners in form of a 50/50 private-public partnership.
Out of the €0.7 billion provided by the Federal ministries, €0.5 billion are explicitly dedicated
for fuel cell demonstration and market preparation projects, of which 54% is for transport
applications (hydrogen production and distribution included).
In September 2009 the H2 Mobility Initiative was launched by a number of leading industry
firms and NOW. The initiative aims to develop a comprehensive nation-wide hydrogen
infrastructure network by 2015 through a three-phase plan of action. The plan aims to set
Germany as the forerunning member state in the commercialisation of fuel cell vehicles.
The EC‟s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking has targets for achieving fuel cell
vehicles commercialisation. The targets for fuel cell buses are summarised in Table 14.
A recent call for funding fuel cell buses provides targets for buses deployed in 2010-
2011 (20 fuel cell buses in 3 sites). Large term targets would be developed for future
calls (up to 500 buses in at least 10 European sites by 2015, according to the FCH-JU‟s
Multi-Annual Implementation Plan 2008 – 2013).
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