Goals and Impact

CoacHyfied aims to cover the following measurable objectives in order to demonstrate the feasibility of fuel cell coaches for regional passenger transport:

  • Demonstration of 3 regional and 3 long distance coaches running on hydrogen FC powertrains fulfilling all weight and size limits for M3 class III resp. class II and consuming a maximum of 10 kgH2/100 km
  • Demonstrate a minimum of >400 km range up to >600 km range in a modular way based on hydrogen pressure and volume modularity
  • Demonstrate 100 kW net FC system power for regional and long distance-coaches, for regional coaches in a modular way 50 and 100 kW demonstration to allow a fit-for-purpose design based on route and mission requirements for optimized vehicle costs and TCO
  • Demonstrate 100 km/h driving speed capability for one of the regional coaches as well as for the long-distance coaches
  • Demonstration of FC electric retrofit coaches for inter-city operation with >90% availability as well as newly developed and built coaches for long distance operation with >85% availability at the end of the demonstration phase
  • Demonstration of at least 25,000h durability by using new and used FC systems in the demonstration vehicles and by increasing the demonstration period to 3 years for the regional coaches
  • Optimize fuel economy and efficiency of FC system and traction battery for coaches through hybrid system control concept and predictive controls to support the achievement of 10kgH2/100km or better
  • Show 5% TCO improvement by optimal coach operation with regards to refueling, maintenance, and durability to increase operational times enabled by a data management and monitoring backbone
  • Study to evaluate potential for future coach optimized compressed hydrogen storage-system compared to installed standard pressure vessels for future performance and cost potentials for coach applications
  • Develop concept for the thermal system to improve driving range by 10% based on conventional approach due to advanced integrated thermal system making use of FC heat losses in a heat-to-cool approach for the air conditioning system in coaches
  • Develop a thermal system simulation model to shorten development time of the thermal system by 30% compared to the conventional development time for combustion engine based coaches
  • Development of a general description of the certification to focus development efforts for new projects
  • Validate and refine the business models for FC electric regional and long-distance coach fleets and identify the most promising opportunities for follow-on deployment to showcase a timeframe and business strategy to be equal to Diesel coaches regarding TCO
  • Development of general description of the certification to focus development efforts for new projects
  • Established/experienced partners to provide/integrate technology according to call specifications and beyond (FCs, batteries hydrogen tanks, drive system, vehicles, system controls), indicating medium-to long-term pathways and fit-for-purpose designs
  • Achieve highest possible degree of reuse, standardization and modularity for powertrain and hydrogen components for and from other applications such as heavy-duty trucks to enable price reduction of vehicles with a premium of no more than 20% compared to Diesel vehicles
  • Conduct dissemination measures to cross-fertilize by knowledge transfer to wider EU community of actors (manufacturing and application)already displayed in the consortium covering small, medium and large enterprises as well as research, engineering suppliers, OEMs and end users plus energy providers and establish working value chains