Periodic Reporting for period 3 - JIVE 2 (Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe 2)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2020-01-01 do 2021-06-30
The underlying objective of JIVE 2 is to support the transition of fuel cell buses from technically proven but high cost demonstrators, to a more mainstream choice for public transport authorities/operators across Europe by building on the activities of existing initiatives, in particular the closely related JIVE project. The specific project objectives are:
- Deploy 153 fuel cell buses in 14 locations across Europe
- Achieve a maximum bus price of €625,000 and validate novel procurement/ownership approaches
- Operate buses for three years or 150,000km per vehicle with an average fleet availability of at least 90%
- Provide anchor demands to justify installation of new hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in each site
- Demonstrate routes to low cost (<9 €/kg dispensed) renewable hydrogen
- Reduce environmental impact of bus operations by operating the fuel cell buses in place of diesel vehicles for extended periods
- Provide evidence of the technical and commercial suitability of fuel cell buses for further roll-out
- Stimulate further uptake of FC buses via a comprehensive, high-impact dissemination campaign
- Deploy 153 fuel cell buses in 14 locations across Europe
- Achieve a maximum bus price of €625,000 and validate novel procurement/ownership approaches
- Operate buses for three years or 150,000km per vehicle with an average fleet availability of at least 90%
- Provide anchor demands to justify installation of new hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in each site
- Demonstrate routes to low cost (<9 €/kg dispensed) renewable hydrogen
- Reduce environmental impact of bus operations by operating the fuel cell buses in place of diesel vehicles for extended periods
- Provide evidence of the technical and commercial suitability of fuel cell buses for further roll-out
- Stimulate further uptake of FC buses via a comprehensive, high-impact dissemination campaign
Key progress during 3rd period of the project includes:
• All deployment sites finalised, 136 out of 168 buses ordered and an increase in total number of buses from 152 to 168.
• Addition of Barcelona (8 buses) and Emmen (10 buses) to the JIVE 2 project.
• Increase in the number of buses to be ordered in Pau (up by 4 buses) and Brighton (up by 32 buses) approved by the consortium.
• World first orders of fuel cell buses from Caetano by TMB for 8 buses in Barcelona, and Optare by Dundee City Council for 12 buses, adding another 2 suppliers to vehicles deployed within the JIVE 2 project.
• First 31 buses delivered to sites (5 in Pau, 20 in Groningen, 1 in Cologne, 1 in Wuppertal, and 4 in Auxerre), representing 17% of the project total.
• Resolution of all issues in the UK cluster resulting from the Wrightbus administration process.
• First 27 buses in operation (5 in Pau, 20 in Groningen, 1 in Cologne, 1 in Wuppertal), representing 16% of the project total.
• HRS commissioned in Pau, Groningen, Wuppertal and Cologne (Meckenheim, Wermelskirchen, Hurth).
• After initial delays, data sets are being collected and analysed regularly for all buses and the HRS in Groningen.
• Major WP4 activities with successful first demand aggregation workshop held focusing on Spanish-speaking markets, with 150 attendees participating in the online event run by Element Energy, TMB, UITP, and Hydrogen Europe, with support from ATUC and the FCH JU.
• Dissemination events programme conducted, including 4 conferences, 3 workshops, one policymaker roundtable, and 15 conference presentations. 28 project articles were published online during the period.
Key findings during the 3rd period of the project include:
• The duration of fuel cell electric bus procurement processes continues to be significantly longer than procurement activities for internal combustion engine-powered buses. The delays in JIVE 2 have originated for a variety of reasons. First, the multi-stakeholder nature of most deployment plans has caused issues, with multiple organisations being required to secure separate commitments for the operation of innovative technology (due to inter-organisational risk reliance etc). Often, order go/no-go decisions have been postponed due to decisions on the award of co-financing being delayed, or due to municipal elections causing project pauses. Secondly, the 3rd project period revealed the impact of ‘shocks’ upon these relatively sensitive procurement processes. With fuel cell bus procurement still seen as an ‘innovative’ venture, the COVID-19 pandemic led to these relatively risky procurements being halted until more ‘certainty’ as to business conditions was possible. With the hope that FCBs will be viewed as more of a traditional technology in the future after JIVE 2, it may be that this issue is minimised.
• Despite this, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of JIVE 2-compliant offers (€625,000 per bus) being made by bus suppliers within this period – leading to the multiple orders placed. Whilst the price offered in tenders still varies according to factors such as the specification, number of buses being ordered, deployment location, warranty demands etc., the JIVE 2 project appears to be reaching its aim of ensuring the price of fuel cell electric buses in Europe is reducing and is getting towards reaching an overall TCO parity with other alternative drivetrains and diesel technology.
• When it came to the stimulation of further demand for fuel cell buses during Period 3, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the landscape considerably. All cities considering further fuel cell bus deployment (including the many ‘challenger’ cities through the JIVE User Group) will now have to contest with a much more difficult macroeconomic climate over the coming years, and so it is key that ‘bridge’ funding that closes the cost gap between FCBs and alternative technologies is maintained to allow a ‘green recovery’ from Coronavirus across Europe. This is a topic that will be closely monitored over Period 4. Broadly, the JIVE 2 cities have been able to maintain their existing innovative deployments over Period 3, and the key will be understanding if future plans can still be maintained.
• On this topic, there was also a broader scale up of the battery electric bus (alternative zero emissions bus option) market during Period 3. Across Europe, more and more cities are procuring these buses in an attempt to decarbonise their urban bus fleets, and they tend to be cheaper from a bus CAPEX perspective. The gap between market share for FCEBs and BEBs is therefore growing. JIVE and JIVE partners therefore have work to do to demonstrate the specific use cases for FCBs – not all city routes can be converted to battery buses in a cheaper fashion than FCB technology. Longer routes, routes with relief change, and routes in variable climates are suited to FCB technology, and the JIVE project needs to highlight these cases (alongside promoting the benefits of a wider local hydrogen ecosystem).
• Finally, there has been some events during Period 3 indicating that the project has a responsibility to demonstrate the “green” credentials of the local FCB projects. There has been significant discourse about the relative merits of different hydrogen production techniques (green, blue and grey) over 2020 and 2021 to date as hydrogen awareness (and, consequently, scrutiny) increases. In cases such as Wuppertal, where H2 is produced from a waste to energy plant, citizens are keen to understand how sustainable such a project is compared to the legacy technology it is replacing. There will be reporting on this within JIVE, but it is a discourse of note that the project will continue to engage with during project dissemination in order to show the potential of green hydrogen for decarbonisation.
See Part B for more details and for a full version of the key findings (above list is condensed due to character limit).
• All deployment sites finalised, 136 out of 168 buses ordered and an increase in total number of buses from 152 to 168.
• Addition of Barcelona (8 buses) and Emmen (10 buses) to the JIVE 2 project.
• Increase in the number of buses to be ordered in Pau (up by 4 buses) and Brighton (up by 32 buses) approved by the consortium.
• World first orders of fuel cell buses from Caetano by TMB for 8 buses in Barcelona, and Optare by Dundee City Council for 12 buses, adding another 2 suppliers to vehicles deployed within the JIVE 2 project.
• First 31 buses delivered to sites (5 in Pau, 20 in Groningen, 1 in Cologne, 1 in Wuppertal, and 4 in Auxerre), representing 17% of the project total.
• Resolution of all issues in the UK cluster resulting from the Wrightbus administration process.
• First 27 buses in operation (5 in Pau, 20 in Groningen, 1 in Cologne, 1 in Wuppertal), representing 16% of the project total.
• HRS commissioned in Pau, Groningen, Wuppertal and Cologne (Meckenheim, Wermelskirchen, Hurth).
• After initial delays, data sets are being collected and analysed regularly for all buses and the HRS in Groningen.
• Major WP4 activities with successful first demand aggregation workshop held focusing on Spanish-speaking markets, with 150 attendees participating in the online event run by Element Energy, TMB, UITP, and Hydrogen Europe, with support from ATUC and the FCH JU.
• Dissemination events programme conducted, including 4 conferences, 3 workshops, one policymaker roundtable, and 15 conference presentations. 28 project articles were published online during the period.
Key findings during the 3rd period of the project include:
• The duration of fuel cell electric bus procurement processes continues to be significantly longer than procurement activities for internal combustion engine-powered buses. The delays in JIVE 2 have originated for a variety of reasons. First, the multi-stakeholder nature of most deployment plans has caused issues, with multiple organisations being required to secure separate commitments for the operation of innovative technology (due to inter-organisational risk reliance etc). Often, order go/no-go decisions have been postponed due to decisions on the award of co-financing being delayed, or due to municipal elections causing project pauses. Secondly, the 3rd project period revealed the impact of ‘shocks’ upon these relatively sensitive procurement processes. With fuel cell bus procurement still seen as an ‘innovative’ venture, the COVID-19 pandemic led to these relatively risky procurements being halted until more ‘certainty’ as to business conditions was possible. With the hope that FCBs will be viewed as more of a traditional technology in the future after JIVE 2, it may be that this issue is minimised.
• Despite this, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of JIVE 2-compliant offers (€625,000 per bus) being made by bus suppliers within this period – leading to the multiple orders placed. Whilst the price offered in tenders still varies according to factors such as the specification, number of buses being ordered, deployment location, warranty demands etc., the JIVE 2 project appears to be reaching its aim of ensuring the price of fuel cell electric buses in Europe is reducing and is getting towards reaching an overall TCO parity with other alternative drivetrains and diesel technology.
• When it came to the stimulation of further demand for fuel cell buses during Period 3, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the landscape considerably. All cities considering further fuel cell bus deployment (including the many ‘challenger’ cities through the JIVE User Group) will now have to contest with a much more difficult macroeconomic climate over the coming years, and so it is key that ‘bridge’ funding that closes the cost gap between FCBs and alternative technologies is maintained to allow a ‘green recovery’ from Coronavirus across Europe. This is a topic that will be closely monitored over Period 4. Broadly, the JIVE 2 cities have been able to maintain their existing innovative deployments over Period 3, and the key will be understanding if future plans can still be maintained.
• On this topic, there was also a broader scale up of the battery electric bus (alternative zero emissions bus option) market during Period 3. Across Europe, more and more cities are procuring these buses in an attempt to decarbonise their urban bus fleets, and they tend to be cheaper from a bus CAPEX perspective. The gap between market share for FCEBs and BEBs is therefore growing. JIVE and JIVE partners therefore have work to do to demonstrate the specific use cases for FCBs – not all city routes can be converted to battery buses in a cheaper fashion than FCB technology. Longer routes, routes with relief change, and routes in variable climates are suited to FCB technology, and the JIVE project needs to highlight these cases (alongside promoting the benefits of a wider local hydrogen ecosystem).
• Finally, there has been some events during Period 3 indicating that the project has a responsibility to demonstrate the “green” credentials of the local FCB projects. There has been significant discourse about the relative merits of different hydrogen production techniques (green, blue and grey) over 2020 and 2021 to date as hydrogen awareness (and, consequently, scrutiny) increases. In cases such as Wuppertal, where H2 is produced from a waste to energy plant, citizens are keen to understand how sustainable such a project is compared to the legacy technology it is replacing. There will be reporting on this within JIVE, but it is a discourse of note that the project will continue to engage with during project dissemination in order to show the potential of green hydrogen for decarbonisation.
See Part B for more details and for a full version of the key findings (above list is condensed due to character limit).