In China, a commuter bus equipped with PowerCell S2 fuel cell stacks has up until the end of January this year, clocked 40 000 kilometres (km) in Wuhan City, the equivalent of one lap around the globe. Used in daily operations, the bus is one of several that has been equipped with PowerCell S2 fuel cell stacks by Wuhan Tiger Fuel Cell Co Ltd and that is running in field tests in Wuhan.
Wuhan Tiger Fuel Cell Company Ltd has been a customer to PowerCell Sweden since 2017. The company has the ambition to develop fuel cell-powered vehicles for the Chinese market together with the Chinese vehicle manufacturer Skywell. Wuhan Tiger has developed a 40kW fuel cell system based on two PowerCell S2 fuel cell stacks.
Over the last year, the system has been tested in buses running in daily traffic on two bus lines in Wuhan City. One of the lines covers 12 kilometers with 16 stops.
This shows that our leading fuel cell technology really meets the requirements of use under real conditions. Despite intensive use for a long time and under tough conditions, none of the stacks has experienced any problems whatsoever – the bus that has covered the longest distance so far has run 40,000 kilometers. It is a very strong proof that our products have the reliability and durability that the customers need and require, Yibo Zhao, President of PowerCell’s Chinese subsidiary, PowerCell Fuel Cell (Shanghai) Co Ltd.
Zero-emission solution
Fuel cells offer a zero-emission solution for electrification of a vast range of applications, such as cars and buses. In comparison, an average city bus running 4,000 kilometers on diesel would have emitted approximately 6.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and 184 kilos of NOx.
With the ambition to decrease emissions from road traffic, China has introduced large subsidies for fuel cell vehicles. Since 2017 Wuhan Tiger has purchased a total of 54 S2 fuel cell stacks from PowerCell. In 2018 the company’s fuel cell bus was approved for production by the Chinese authorities.
Our buses equipped with PowerCell’s stacks have been working very well. Thanks to their reliability we have been able to demonstrate in a very tangible way that the fuel cell technology is a truly attractive alternative when phasing out fossil fuels from the automotive segment, said Wu Bo, Vice President of Wuhan Tiger.
