Emission-free for a clean environment: The first public bus that runs in the Groß-Gerau district with fuel cell technology has now been presented to the district office.
The district’s ambitious plan: By 2028, all 80 vehicles in the district’s bus fleet should be on the road free of pollutants. The district and the LNVG are now relying on appropriate funding from the federal and state governments.
KREIS GROSS-GERAU – From May 25, 2020 the expansion of H2 mobility in the Groß-Gerau district could determine the headlines for its time. This date marks the start of local public transport, which will continue to develop over the next few years using emission-free drives. “The Groß-Gerau district has set this goal for the further development of local public transport in the next few years,” said District Administrator Thomas Will in Groß-Gerau on Monday: “The use of a fuel cell bus in scheduled transport is a long-awaited signal for the future efforts of the Circle to create the necessary framework conditions so that the use of hydrogen as an energy source is not only used in buses, but also in many other areas of mobility and freight transport.
The Lokal Nahverkehrsgesellschaft mbH Kreis Groß-Gerau (LNVG) supports the objectives of the district and sets an exclamation mark today. In cooperation with Hy2Serv GmbH, represented by its managing director Christian Winzenhöler, a hydrogen-powered Citaro from Mercedes-Benz will in future be used on bus line 42 between Groß-Gerau via Dornheim and Wolfskehlen to Griesheim. This vehicle has been in use on the premises of the industrial park in Frankfurt-Höchst since 2018 and is characterized by a high level of reliability and economy. “For regular public transport, a particularly important point, the range is up to 450 km,” explains Christian Sommer, Managing Director of LNVG,
Christian Winzenhöler is pleased that “the operational experience gathered in his company with the strategic objectives will be bundled in the Groß-Gerau district” and hopes “that this project will give new impulses to the introduction of emission-free mobility solutions”, because so far the procurement of buses powered by hydrogen
The first district deputy Walter Astheimer thanks Mr. Winzenhöler for his willingness to cooperate and refers to the delays in the procurement of fuel cell buses: “In addition to the ability of the industry to deliver, the financing of vehicles, in particular, presents us with significant challenges. In the current situation, adequate vehicle funding is extremely important. A corresponding prompt call within the framework of the proposed National Hydrogen Strategy is necessary so that our mobility strategy, which makes a significant contribution to reducing environmental pollution, can be implemented. ”
LNVG Authorized Officer Angelika Reinhardt supports Mr. Astheimer’s explanations and refers to the special urgency, since “in the years 2022/2023 24 fuel cell buses have to be procured so that the corresponding number of diesel vehicles can be taken out of operation”. The establishment of the prerequisites for the new drive technology as well as the corresponding procurement process is accompanied by an expert consortium consisting of TÜV Rheinland AG and EMCEL GmbH. The consortium was already responsible for developing a master plan for the use of alternative drive technologies in regular transport in the Groß-Gerau district. This master plan provides a sustainable changeover strategy with the aim of
Mr. Marcel Corneille, Managing Director of EMCEL GmbH, refers to the timeline of the master plan and the pilot phase planned for 2020, which is now picking up speed with the cooperation of LNVG and HY2Serv. “I am convinced that the first use of a hydrogen-powered vehicle in the Groß-Gerau district not only does its part to avoid emissions, but also convinces residents and passengers alike of this technology through its low-noise driving.
In this sense, LNVG Managing Director Christian Sommer points out that “the energy and mobility transition must be viewed holistically, especially since the success of investments in technology must also be accompanied by the further expansion of the range of transport services. The passenger growth interrupted by Corona will continue in the medium term, so that public transport will make a significant contribution to reducing emissions in the transport sector by switching to fuel cell buses.
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