Structure

Two demonstration work packages provide the basis of the project’s working structure. For each of them, numerous research activities are needed, such as questions on the operation and management system, the thermal management, the H2 fuel system or certification issues. But also business models and strategies for a market ramp-up are addressed.

WP 1: Fuel Cell Coach Operation and Management System

  • Develop hybrid control concept for regional and long-distance coaches
  • Optimize fuel economy and efficiency of FC system and traction battery for coaches through hybrid control concept
  • Optimal coach operation with regards to refuelling, maintenance, and durability to increase operational time enabled by a data management and monitoring backbone

WP 2: H2  Fuel System 

  • Selection of appropriate storage technology and components
  • Evaluate for potential for storage system optimization for coaches
  • Development of H2 storage system concept and design

WP 3: Thermal Management

  • Develop and implement an integrated thermal management system (TMS) serving the vehicle propulsion system and ancillary services such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)
  • Assess opportunities for efficiency improvements and cost reductions through optimisation of thermal management plant and control strategies at system level
  • Assess opportunities for TMS commonality across the two vehicle types

WP 4: Vehicle Certification

  • Manage the certification of the Fuel Cell coach project with the corresponding partners in the consortium

WP 5: Business models and market development strategy

  • Constitute a reference background of existing business models
  • Provide evidence of the technical and economic performance of the vehicles, whilst gathering insights into how to improve products to meet customers’ needs more effectively, and evaluation of economic performance for companies involved in green mobility
  • Validate and refine the business models for FC electric regional and long-distance coach fleets
  •  Identify the most promising opportunities for follow-on deployment
  • Capture lessons from the practical experience gained via the pilot deployment

WP 6: Long distance Fuel Cell coach demonstration 

  • Operational context analysis (including SoA and SoP)
  • Identification of the requirements for the fuel cell coaches
  • Specifications of the high-level functional architecture of the system
  • Development of the powertrain for the fuel cell coaches
  • Development of a long-distance fuel cell coach
  • Integration of the fuel cell stacks, tanks and batteries to the coaches
  • Integration, verification, performance test and safety tests of the prototype coaches
  • Certification of vehicles
  • Operation of the coach at the coach operator routes (incl. service & maintenance setup at depot)

WP7: Regional Fuel Cell coach demonstration

  • Demonstration of fuel cell electric retrofit coach for inter-city operation with > 85 % availability
  • Demonstrate a driving range of at least 400 km between refuelling with high fuel economy
  • Realize an operation range of at least 80,000 km per year per bus
  • Demonstrate the viability of retrofitting existing coaches with a fuel cell system while fulfilling the other objectives.

WP8: Project management, dissemination & exploitation

  • Overall administration of the project regarding all management related issues such as reporting, legal and financial issues and communication between project partners and towards the European Commission and the FCH2 JU
  • Dissemination of project results
  • Facilitate exploitation of hydrogen coaches and its technological solutions