Wirtschaftsbetriebe Oberhausen GmbH (WBO) is receiving federal funding for the purchase of a hydrogen-operated refuse vehicle in Oberhausen.
This is being done under the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP2) with a total of approx. 665,000 euros from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). The funding guideline is implemented by NOW GmbH (National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology) through Project Management Jülich (Projektträger Jülich (PtJ)). WBO is already using a gas-operated truck and several small vehicles with electric drives. The step towards hydrogen drives is the next building block on the road to gradually making refuse collection emission-free and supporting climate protection.
From 29 March 2021, WBO will collect data on the configuration of the planned hydrogen refuse collection vehicle, which is expected to be deployed from 2022 in Oberhausen. In addition the experts are using a so-called data collector. Essentially the vehicle is a normal refuse collection vehicle in operation for about a week for daily refuse collection. The refuse vehicle is also equipped with a number of sensors in order to capture logistics and energy indicators. The data that is collected will be evaluated and software will calculate the exact energy demand and will make proposals for vehicle design. “Because the truck will record data in the urban area of Oberhausen, we will finally have an exact overview of the number of kilometres and metres of altitude driven. We also see how often the capacity was filled and what energy input was required for this. On the basis of these and many other data it can be decided how many batteries, or number of fuel cells, must be installed and the size of the hydrogen tanks”, explains Arndt Mothes, Refuse Operations Manager at WBO. Then the appropriate proposal in terms of the configuration can be obtained and the vehicle ordered. The hydrogen refuse vehicle is anticipated to be on the road from 2022 in Oberhausen.
Image source: WBO