I think battery buses have comprehensively won this one, to be honest. The biggest hydrogen bus fleet seems to be 35 vehicles; there are many BEV bus fleets in the hundreds and some in the thousands.
As a certified old person, I'm having trouble getting used to them. It is unnatural for a double-decker bus to pull up near-silently, and then move off smoothly when you get on. They are _supposed_ to vibrate violently and sound like they might explode at any moment; it's traditional.
(One of the bus route closest to me has a mix of fancy BEV buses and ancient diesel things from 2007, so I get an interesting selection. The other is mostly plugin hybrids, which are extra-disconcerting, as they're either silent or very noisy depending on mode.)
I'm not really sure there is any place for a discussion - you would need a whole new infrastructure for hydrogen powered buses, while keeping a lot of the downsides of fossil fueled air breathing vehicles (eq. air filters filters regardless of if you burn the hydrogen or use it in fuel cells).
With battery buses - you might need to slightly beef up the local transformer and installs some new wires and that's it.
Or even better, do what the city mass transit company does here in Brno, Czech Republic - get trolley busses with batteries, that charge from the overhead wires while on the way, so they can then continue to serve additional destinations past the terminus of road electrification.
It is also super handy for any road work, they just automatically stow their collectors and then once again under wires, deploy them. There is usually a small trough around the wires at this spot, guiding the 2 collectors to the 2 wires. As a result, the driver does not have to leave the vehicles when connecting or disconnecting from wired power.
TL;DR: Hamburgs mobility provider is trying it again, after failure in 2019 with 5 Busses, with 5 Busses (Fuel-Cell) again, this time allegedly 'mass production ready'.
With the intent of max. 10% of the fleet based on this ¹, or similar, in 2030, which is their target for carbon neutrality.
Got a little bit more range, refuels faster (in 15 minutes), than the few hours E-Busses (currently) need.
Regarding infrastructure this has to be seen in the context of Hamburg wanting to be a hydrogen hub, because of its harbour, shipping, processing and such.
Shrug? We'll see...
¹ actually the Hamburger Hochbahn isn't the only provider, about the other half comes from VHH ( https://vhh-mobility.de ) which don't use or intend to use hydrogen, instead going for battery electric exclusively. Which in the context of 'Hydrogen Hub Hamburg' mentioned above, seems logical, because they operate lines far out of that also.
There's a few companies and labs in Germany who still manage to somehow sell hydrogen as a "local innovation" to government grants every now and then... Hydrogen busses, hydrogen trams, hydrogen trains. It never sticks, unsurprisingly.
I think battery buses have comprehensively won this one, to be honest. The biggest hydrogen bus fleet seems to be 35 vehicles; there are many BEV bus fleets in the hundreds and some in the thousands.
As a certified old person, I'm having trouble getting used to them. It is unnatural for a double-decker bus to pull up near-silently, and then move off smoothly when you get on. They are _supposed_ to vibrate violently and sound like they might explode at any moment; it's traditional.
(One of the bus route closest to me has a mix of fancy BEV buses and ancient diesel things from 2007, so I get an interesting selection. The other is mostly plugin hybrids, which are extra-disconcerting, as they're either silent or very noisy depending on mode.)
I'm not really sure there is any place for a discussion - you would need a whole new infrastructure for hydrogen powered buses, while keeping a lot of the downsides of fossil fueled air breathing vehicles (eq. air filters filters regardless of if you burn the hydrogen or use it in fuel cells).
With battery buses - you might need to slightly beef up the local transformer and installs some new wires and that's it.
Or even better, do what the city mass transit company does here in Brno, Czech Republic - get trolley busses with batteries, that charge from the overhead wires while on the way, so they can then continue to serve additional destinations past the terminus of road electrification.
It is also super handy for any road work, they just automatically stow their collectors and then once again under wires, deploy them. There is usually a small trough around the wires at this spot, guiding the 2 collectors to the 2 wires. As a result, the driver does not have to leave the vehicles when connecting or disconnecting from wired power.
And it looks super cool! :)
Incomplete because of https://dialog.hochbahn.de/bus-in-zukunft/neue-brennstoffzel... and https://www.hochbahn.de/de/presse/pressemitteilungen/brennst... and https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Hamburger-Hochbahn-st...
(jooze tränntzläyshun zörvizzäss!)
TL;DR: Hamburgs mobility provider is trying it again, after failure in 2019 with 5 Busses, with 5 Busses (Fuel-Cell) again, this time allegedly 'mass production ready'.
With the intent of max. 10% of the fleet based on this ¹, or similar, in 2030, which is their target for carbon neutrality.
Got a little bit more range, refuels faster (in 15 minutes), than the few hours E-Busses (currently) need.
Regarding infrastructure this has to be seen in the context of Hamburg wanting to be a hydrogen hub, because of its harbour, shipping, processing and such.
Shrug? We'll see...
¹ actually the Hamburger Hochbahn isn't the only provider, about the other half comes from VHH ( https://vhh-mobility.de ) which don't use or intend to use hydrogen, instead going for battery electric exclusively. Which in the context of 'Hydrogen Hub Hamburg' mentioned above, seems logical, because they operate lines far out of that also.
There's a few companies and labs in Germany who still manage to somehow sell hydrogen as a "local innovation" to government grants every now and then... Hydrogen busses, hydrogen trams, hydrogen trains. It never sticks, unsurprisingly.
Yah well... „Grüner Wasserstoff“ aus Hamburg: Senat weicht der Frage nach den Kosten aus
https://www.mopo.de/hamburg/hamburg-bei-gruenem-wasserstoff-...
shrug Who am I to judge? ;->