Two fuel cell waste disposal vehicles added to the fleet of Böblingen waste management company
“We are an innovative and technology-neutral district and had to wait many months for the two new vehicles. Now they are finally at the depot, fully technically equipped and will go into full service from next week”, says District Administrator Roland Bernhard. “We are very proud of the new vehicles with especially environmentally-friendly, cutting-edge drive technology and are excited to see how both disposal vehicles prove themselves in the district of Böblingen”, stated District Administrator Roland Bernhard at the official handover on Tuesday, 17 January.
He expressed his thanks to the district politicians who, despite high acquisition costs compared to diesel drive systems, agreed to the pilot project. He also thanked the federal government, who are generously funding the project. In March 2021, a federal budget subsidy was awarded to AWB for the two fuel cell vehicles. The project entitled: ‘Procurement of two waste disposal vehicles with alternative drives’, subsidy number 03B20409, is funded under the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology in the amount of 1,594,139 euros by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ).
Together with the three plant managers from the waste management company, the district administrator was presented with a symbolic key by Markus Dautermann, Managing Director of manufacturing firm Zoeller, at a press event on the premises of the depot. “Following assessments and comparisons to diesel-powered vehicles, it remains to be seen whether the AWB will continue to rely on this new type of drive technology or convert to for example, purely electric vehicles”, said the district administrator. First plant manager Martin Wuttke explains: “We are successively converting the fleet to alternative drives at the moment and fuel cell technology could be a part of this in the future. They have been tested only recently in the transport sector. In terms of the economic efficiency of the drive technology, the propensity for malfunctions and range is a decisive factor for our waste collection”, said District Administrator Bernhard at the press event.
Both new waste vehicles will be in daily, emission-free and quiet operation from 23 January. They will be mainly used in the town centres of the larger district towns for organic and residual waste collection. Furthermore, they will travel throughout the entire district of Böblingen in order to test range and economic efficiency in more rural structures with larger distances.
Image rights: Landratsamt Böblingen