I hope they have more success in Southern California than the public transport companies.
Hydrogen fuel cell trains are in regular service in three federal states:
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Lower Saxony
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Hessen
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Brandenburg
In the first two, Alstom Coradia iLint trains are used, while in Brandenburg, Siemens Mireo Plus H2 trains are used. All of these operations have experienced failures due to inadequate hydrogen supply. The Alstom trains experienced technical problems with the drive train, and Alstom was unable to supply replacement parts.
Lower Saxony has therefore not ordered any more hydrogen trains, opting instead for purely battery-powered trains. Baden-WĂźrttemberg has ruled out hydrogen trains altogether. Here in Germany, BEMUs with ranges of up to 150 km are considered sufficient for the routes in question. In addition, the effectiveness of BEMUs is in favour of hydrogen trains, at around 80% compared to 30%.
In Southern California, Stadler trains are used. So there is hope.
Regards, Volker
Success will stand or fall largely on the hydrogen distribution architecture, as was stressed repeatedly when the Coradia iLINT trains were first going into service.
These are all inherently battery trains; the fuel cells are used for recharge, like the engines on the old Tri-power switchers in the early 20th Century. I suspect that some means of plug-in or contact charging would decrease the overall cost of the âhydrogenâ trains.
I just look at the battery powered school busses that were in the news. The company that built most of the declard bankruptcy then announced that all warranties were null and void and they were discontinuing all parts support and supplies. Meaning these customers that ordered custom built busses had no parts no warranties and no way of getting anymore. 3400 very expensive boat anchors.
Can you provide a link on the buses?
There are millions of battery EVs of various types and brands operating quite well.
I never thought hydrogen fuel cells made any sense.
Also from my above linked article:
Politico says Lion had orders for 3,400 e-buses across the U.S. Published reports put the number delivered between 800 and 1,600. [Thanks to a sharp-eyed reader for catching the more detailed numbersâEd.]
800-1600 electric buses. Iffy Canadian company. But likely the x# of inoperative vehicles can be repaired.
Repair is not possible âŚIF⌠the above is true. endmrw0913251159
Harold makes a lot of presumptions. Many of the electric parts were probably not made by the Canadian company, just used in assembly. So repairs might be possible. Better to buy from a more stable company in future.
Its kind of disappointing to see federal grants used to buy these buses made in Canada, when Blue Bird is building EV busses in the US.
While Hydrogen has some interesting properties as an alternative fuel, its chief disadvantage is a very low energy density. Compressing it or liquefying it takes as substantial fraction of the energy content. As with Helium, Hydrogen is very good at finding ways to leak out of a container.
I am sure glad itâs the weekend and Nick doesnât have to contend with this OT. What were we talking about? Well the discussion of buses is not that far off.
As a regular reader, TO ME the OT additions to a thread are very interesting and I love it. Especially when it doesnât get detected and goes on and on with MORE interesting stuff. Regards to ALL mike endmrw0913251508
If you like the thread, why even suggest itâs OT. Harold brought up the buses because he has a strong aversion to any non-IC transports.
CH2 Follow the total thread here and the one Nick has posted. 1. I have stated I love OT threads. 2. This thread COULD be considered OT. And Nick is trying to get everything to settle down = I hate that I FURTHERED the OT squabble.
Even when YOU get on a tanget via OT, itâs interesting to me. I can always âchange channelâ w/o âscreamingâ. LOL regards my friend endmrw0913251550
I just hope a moderator doesnât.
- The latest CALSTART report from early 2024 indicates over 6,000 electric transit buses in use.
- School Buses:There are more than 5,100 electric school buses on the road, with nearly 14,000 on order.
I photographed 3501 at the car barn at San Bernardino on 27 August.
I hadnât heard anything about it and was surprised to see it.
The colour scheme appears to be an interpretation of a David Hockney painting of a swimming pool. There was little doubt about what it was with ten feet high letters âFLIRT H2â on the sideâŚ
Peter
Its good to know that the Stadler FLIRT H2 is in service, Hope it does great!
For those who havenât been following, here is an article from the fuel-cell supplier (Ballard) describing the record run at the ex-TTCI facility in Pueblo last year. Over 1700 miles on one âtankfulâ is interestingâŚ
Thanks Woke