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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - JIVE (Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe)

Teaser

Summary

The hydrogen fuel cell (FC) bus is one of very few options for eliminating harmful local emissions and decarbonising public transport. Its performance has been validated in Europe in recent years through demonstration projects, notably the CHIC project which finished in December 2016. These projects have also shown that a number of actions are required to allow the commercialisation of FC buses. These include:
â€¢ addressing high ownership costs of FC buses relative to conventional buses,
â€¢ ensuring FC buses can meet the high operational availability levels demanded by public transport,
â€¢ developing the refuelling infrastructure to provide reliable, low-cost hydrogen
â€¢ improving awareness of the potential benefits of FC buses for zero emission public transport.
JIVE will address these issues and pave the way to commercialisation by deploying 142 fuel cell buses across 9 locations, more than doubling the number of FC buses operating in Europe. JIVE will use coordinated procurement activities to unlock the economies of scale which are required to reduce the cost of the buses. They will operate in large fleets of 10-30 buses, reducing the overhead costs per bus, and allowing more efficient supply chains and maintenance operations compared to previous deployments. By working at this scale and with bus OEMs with proven vehicles, JIVE will ensure reliability at the level required for commercialisation and will enable significant progress towards commercial cost targets.

JIVE will also test new hydrogen refuelling stations with the required capacity to serve fleets in excess of 20 buses. This will not only reduce the costs of hydrogen and increase the daily utilisation of equipment but will also test the ability to offer >99% reliability, which is required for the commercialisation of FC buses.
with the required capacity to serve fleets in excess of 20 buses. This will not only reduce the costs of hydrogen and increase the daily utilisation of equipment but will also test the ability to offer >99% reliability, which is required for the commercialisation of FC buses.

Work performed

During the second reporting period, partners continued to make progress towards achieving the overall aims of the project. The focus for all partners has been on concluding the procurement process, which has been much more prolonged than anticipated. Cologne, Wuppertal, and Rhein Main all placed orders for buses. The remaining five cities all concluded their tender processes for buses during the second period and are close to awarding contracts for buses during the next period. All partners continued to make preparations for operation ahead of deployment.

Following the delays with the bus and HRS procurement exercises experienced during the first year of the project, all cities agreed to a target of ordering buses by the end of Sep 18. Despite extensive efforts of all cities involved, and close monitoring by the coordinator, several cities were unable to meet this deadline.
Although firm orders were not finalised in all local projects, each city made good progress towards finalising contracts with suppliers. One exception is Riga, which had to cancel plans to deploy ten buses under the JIVE project. The consortium agreed to reallocate the funding from the Riga project to support additional buses in Aberdeen and Cologne.
The delay to procurement activities in WP1 has had a knock-on impact on other activities within the project, necessitating the delay of activities in other work packages. By the end of this period, the issues encountered in the procurement process have largely been resolved.
Key progress during 2nd year of the project includes:
- Cologne and Wuppertal placed a joint order for 40 fuel cell buses in Feb 18.
- VMW placed an order for 11 ebe EUROPA buses in Rhein Main in Aug 18, introducing a new OEM to the project.
- A framework contract for the UK Cluster was awarded, with two bus suppliers (Van Hool and Wrightbus) offering bus prices below the â‚¬650,000 per bus price target set under JIVE. Each UK city made good progress towards finalising the detailed city specifications and maintenance packages for buses with their preferred supplier.
- The JIVE project has led to two OEMs developing and marketing fuel cell double deck buses (Wrightbus and ADL), which have been trialled in UK cities during this period.
- Transfer of deliverables and grant from RS to Cologne and Aberdeen to each procure an additional 5 buses in the project.
- Continued effective and high-profile dissemination work e.g. through the second edition of the Zero Emission Bus Conference organised by Element Energy and Hydrogen Europe on 27-28th Nov 18 in Cologne.
- Continued effective engagement of operators via the User Group.
- Synchronisation of the JIVE project with follow on project, JIVE 2, and the strengthening of knowledge exchange through the joint consortium.

Key findings during the 2nd year of the project:
- The procurement processes were far longer than anticipated (by 12-18 months in most cases). Details of these exercises and the lessons learnt are summarised in D1.1.
- The public sector is not the ideal route to managing complex bus tenders which would usually be managed through bus operators.
- The clustering of orders requires that the individual requirements of different operators needs to be met within a single contract/framework. This requires additional work and adds complexity.
- Consolidated tendering of too many operators leads to conflicts concerning standardisation of the basic bus specification.
- The specification should be kept simple â€“ especially in this early stage where there are few OEMs offering fuel cell options. This leaves room for the OEM to introduce their own technical solutions.
- Because of the delays in procurement, some project deliverables which are tied to the procurement process have been delayed. It is also inevitable that bus delivery dates have been pushed back by the delays in the procurements.
- The permitting process for HRS is often much longer than anticipated due to the r