Life cycle assessment of hydrogen-powered city buses in the High V.LO-City project: integrating vehicle operation and refuelling infrastructure

Abstract

Article Highlights This paper aims at presenting a comprehensive LCA case study that uses real-world operations data to investigate the environmental impacts of the High V.LO-City hydrogen fuel cell bus system (i.e. H2FC bus, integrating hydrogen production and delivery options and refuelling stations operation) against a conventional Euro-6 Diesel bus. The High V.LO-City project consisted of the integrated testing of new generation hydrogen buses and their hydrogen production and refuelling infrastructure in some European cities. It differs from other demonstration projects because it intends to evaluate both the operation of the vehicles and the production and supply of hydrogen to use them as substitutes for conventional diesel buses and trolleybuses. Fuel economy during bus operation is around 10.25 KgH2/100 km, and the refuelling station energy demand ranges between 7 and 9 KWh/KgH2. The results clearly indicate that it is advantageous to promote such mode of transportation in areas where electricity is primarily produced from renewables (i.e. wind power as an alternative to fossil fuels). However, potential setbacks, in particular those related to problem shifting and to grid improvement, should be addressed accordingly.

Keywords

• Low-carbon mobility
• Fuel cell buses
• Hydrogen
• Life cycle assessment
• Climate change policy