Switzerland Two Mercedes?Benz Citaro FuelCELL (sic) Hybrid buses will provide both shuttle and regular services from January 23–27, 2013 at the prestigious “World Economic Forum” in Davos.
At the 43rd annual meeting of the charitable foundation, leading international economic experts, politicians, intellectuals and journalists will be discussing the world’s most urgent challenges with regard to health and the environment. PostAuto Schweiz AG will operate the vehicles for transporting participants.
PostAuto is the first bus company in Switzerland to use fuel cell technology in public transport. Since the end of 2011, five Mercedes?Benz Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid Postbuses have been employed on PostAuto regular service routes in and around Brugg (Aargau canton) where a long-term test of fuel cell drive systems is being conducted. They use only environmentally-friendly and sustainably produced hydrogen as a fuel. PostAuto estimates approximately 2000 tonnes of CO2 will be saved during the five-year test phase.
The new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid boasts fundamental innovations: hybridisation with energy recovery and storage in lithium-ion batteries, highperformance electric motors with 120 kW continuous power in the wheel hubs, electrified PTO units and further developed fuel cells. These will achieve an increased durability of at least five years or 12,000 operating hours. Both stacks are located on the vehicle’s roof. The lithium-ion batteries which store recovered power during braking also move to the roof. The energy reservoir means the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid can travel several kilometres using only battery-electric power.
The improved technology means the new Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid can save over 50% hydrogen in comparison to the previous generation. As a result the number of tanks has been reduced from the previous nine to seven and a total of 35 kg of hydrogen. The range is now greater than 300 kilometres.
