Heralding The Hydrogen Economy

Berlin's Brave New World of Public Transport

Berlin is getting ready for the next generation of public transport. As part of an EU-sponsored project, the German capital has added four hydrogen-fueled buses to its fleet -- and they even survived the World Cup. Is Europe on its way to fulfilling the dream of a hydrogen economy?

The hydrogen buses survived the World Cup, the ultimate road test.

Imagine a city where traffic is almost noiseless, the air is free from fumes and the only exhaust gas is water vapor. This utopian vision is becoming more than just an idea as the much-hyped hydrogen economy of the future begins to take off. In Berlin, an innovative project is pointing the way towards a cleaner future where oil is no longer king.

At first glance, there is nothing out of the ordinary about the latest four additions to Berlin's fleet of yellow buses. But a closer look reveals an unusual fuel tank on the roof of these vehicles. This allows them to get from A to B using hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines, with no gasoline involved. Although the fuel may be expensive now, the makers of these prototypes believe their hydrogen-fueled buses will soon become a cost-competitive alternative to vehicles powered by gasoline, which is polluting and may one day become unaffordable.

"During the last 10 to 15 years, we have been experimenting with modern technology that will define transport for the future," says Klaus Wazlak, spokesman for the Berlin Transportation Company (BVG). "As far as hydrogen is concerned, we can look to the future with great optimism."

And for Neoman Bus, the company that produces and supplies the buses, the project is an investment in the markets of the future. Neoman is already negotiating with several potential customers in Italy and the Netherlands, and expects to sell between 50 and 70 hydrogen vehicles starting 2008 and 2009, according to company spokesman Thorsten Wagner.

Extreme conditions

Like conventional vehicles, Neoman's hydrogen buses use four-cycle combustion engines, but because they run on a mix of hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air, their only exhaust is water vapor. These motors also run very quietly -- a pleasant surprise for passengers accustomed to the noise of regular buses.

Since the project was launched in June, the public reaction has been mostly positive -- no small feat, given that Berlin's miniature hydrogen fleet was tested "under extreme conditions," as Wazlak explains. The BVG began running the buses amid the tumult of the World Cup, when Berlin's passenger volume was at an all-time peak. "The buses proved their worth very nicely during the World Cup," Wazlak boasts.

Wazlak admits that although he hasn't heard any complaints, many of the BVG's customers "couldn't care less what kind of bus comes along, as long as it is comfortable and on time." The BVG assumes that for many paying customers, "an inexpensive ticket is perhaps more important than a clean bus."

An expensive alternative

Although the BVG is encouraged by the positive results of the field study, Wazlak is not a dreamer. The hydrogen economy "is a nice vision, and one that we can certainly share," he says, "but its implementation is tricky." The BVG is a business, after all: "We don't do science fiction," Wazlak says.

And the reality is that the BVG is on a tight budget, and hydrogen today is a costly affair. Neoman charges about €220,000 ($290,000) for a diesel bus, Wagner told SPIEGEL ONLINE. The new hydrogen buses are expected to cost more than twice as much. And although they are less expensive to operate and maintain than their predecessors, there remains a huge gap in the acquisition price of the two. "That gap is currently covered by subsidy initiatives," Wazlak explains.

In truth, the entire project would not be possible without a little outside encouragement -- and money. Berlin's hydrogen buses are part of a larger EU project that has been dubbed, somewhat awkwardly, HyFleet:Cute (the acronym stands for Hydrogen for Clean Urban Transport in Europe).

The project was launched earlier this year "to see if the use of hydrogen for transport is technically feasible and economically sound," as the EU Commission's energy spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny put it. "The first outcome was: yes, it is," he says. And a good thing, too, since the EU Commission has so far invested €48 million ($63 million) of tax-payers' money in HyFleet:Cute.

Common future, common interests

A hydrogen-powered bus stops by the Total gas station in Berlin-Spandau for a fresh tank of fuel.

The BVG and the EU are not the only ones interested in a cleaner future. Above all, oil companies have a lot to gain from alternative fuel, since their very existence may depend on it once oil becomes too expensive -- one reason why French oil company Total agreed to provide the refueling infrastructure for Berlin's hydro fleet.

Total has set up shop in Berlin's Spandau district, right next to the bus depot that houses the BVG's new buses. In addition to conventional petrol, the gas station offers hydrogen fuel in both gaseous and liquid form, both for the BVG and the public at large.

This one-stop fuel shop is itself a model of sustainable development. It features a so-called hydrogen reformer that produces much of the hydro fuel on-site, and is equipped with state-of-the-art compressors that can store hydrogen gas at high pressure, allowing for greater capacity (and fewer runs to the fuel pump). The energy company Vattenfall has installed two stationary fuel cells that provide the gas station with all the electricity and heat it needs, with practically zero pollution.

Although none of the companies involved will be making a profit from this project any time soon, it will "clear the way for access to future markets," says the Neoman spokesman. In other words, the project enables his company to further develop hydrogen engines until they are fully marketable in serial production.

But Neoman developers are convinced that hydrogen technology could soon become cost-competitive. The EU Commission agrees: "It is more a question of when, rather than whether this technology will be market-ready," Tarradellas says. Neoman estimates that their hydrogen-powered motors will be ready to go into serial production by 2009.

A hydrogen-powered future?

Even though Tarradellas feels "hydrogen bus technology is extremely positive," several drawbacks are still holding back the dream of a hydrogen-fueled economy. The main problem is that hydrogen is not a source of energy -- it is a medium. As such, energy is required to generate hydrogen in the first place -- energy that is currently provided mainly by fossil fuels, somewhat defeating the purpose of a sustainable energy cycle.

"In the long term, this idea only stands a chance if hydrogen is obtained from renewable energy sources," Wagner believes. Such sources include wind turbines, hydroelectric dams, photovoltaic (solar) cells and geothermal power plants. Neoman also believes that a process called biomass-to-hydrogen (BTH), which generates hydrogen from biological waste, has great potential: unlike fuel cells, internal combustion engines work well with less pure forms of hydrogen, Wagner says.

Despite its optimism, the European Union is realistic about the prospects of a hydrogen economy. "It is a bit far away," Tarradellas says. "I don't see it happening tomorrow."

Wagner agrees. "The future," he speculates, "will be a mix of natural gas, hydrogen, synthetic fuel and conventional fossil fuels."