Road & Premises

Public buses cover distances of between 200 and 400 km per day. In the process they brake and accelerate much more often than trucks. With a scheduled service life of twelve years and 750,000 kilometres driven, the vehicles must be robust and at the same time as comfortable as possible. Over ten million test kilometres from pilot projects show that it is technically possible to operate the majority of public buses electrically by the year 2030. There are currently a variety of drive technologies available for operation.

A guaranteed range of 200 km is enough for many bus operators for the first conversion of entire routes to battery buses. The first available vehicles on the market cover these daily distances. This enables uninterrupted driving operation, with recharging taking place at night at the depot. Charging is also possible during operation. Here the bus charges via inductive or conductive fast-charging at bus stops or turn-backs or through a partial overhead line. The required battery capacity and the downtime are thus considerably reduced.

For longer routes, hydrogen-operated buses are a good alternative to batteries. In around ten minutes, the buses refuel enough hydrogen for 300-400 kilometres of driving. Fuel cell buses thus bring a flexibility which is comparable to a diesel bus and can be easily integrated in the operational procedures of transport companies. Alternatively a battery bus can be equipped with a fuel cell as a range extender. Here both drive technologies complement one another: a battery provides energy for the drive, absorbs this when braking and is recharged during breaks or at the depot. During the journey the battery is recharged by a smaller fuel cell.

To date, however, only very few vehicles with alternative drive systems are available, especially for long-distance transport. In particular, semitrailer trucks with liquefied natural gas (LNG) drives are available on the market and are increasing their market shares due to the currently available funding possibilities. In this context, the BMVI supported the pilot project for the procurement and testing of 20 LNG trucks at Meyer Logistik in the Berlin region at an early stage as part of the Mobility and Fuels Strategy (MFS), in order to gain insights for initial market entry. The results of the project, which was successfully conducted in 2017, show that depending on the load, route and operating area, the emission reduction figures cited in the relevant literature can indeed be achieved.

In the medium term, hydrogen and catenary trucks are also seen as an option for heavy road transport. In order to validate the findings of existing studies within the scope of the MFS, the implementation of support measures in other NOW-coordinated programmes and also the initiative for climate-friendly road freight transport, it is important to initiate pilot projects for emission-free long-distance heavy goods transport. A significant focus of future measures for these technologies should be on the necessary infrastructure.

An important player on the path to the extensive use of the hydrogen drive is the industry network Clean Intralogistics Net (CIN). The collaboration of now thirteen renowned and globally-operating companies has committed itself to one main goal: to make the transport and handling of goods in industry, trade and at airports emission-free, more efficient and also more profitable. Using the joint network, the partners want to advance using fuel cell-operated fork lifts and haulers – so-called ground conveyors – as well as vehicles on the airport tarmac. They also plan the associated hydrogen infrastructure along with it. Exchanging experiences and knowledge transfer is at the forefront for the network, so that individual projects can be bundled and to help the climate-friendly type of drive to breakthrough point. The CIN also receives expert support in this from associated partner, VDMA (The Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association).