Project "CHIC" (EU)
Clean Hydrogen in European Cities Project
Video of the Project
CHIC, the Clean Hydrogen in European Cities Project, is the essential next step leading to the full market commercialization of Fuel Cell Hydrogen powered (FCH) buses.
The project involves integrating 26 FCH buses in daily public transport operations and bus routes in five cities across Europe – Aarau (Switzerland), Bolzano/Bozen (Italy), London (GB), Milan (Italy), and Oslo (Norway). The CHIC project is supported by the European Union Joint Undertaking for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH JU) with 26 million Euros, and has 25 partners from across Europe, along with industrial partners for vehicle supply and refuelling infrastructure. The project is based on a staged introduction and build-up of FCH bus fleets, the supporting hydrogen refuelling stations and infrastructure in order to facilitate the smooth integration of the FCH buses in Europe’s public transport system.
The CHIC project will forge partnerships between cities which have previously gained experience with hydrogen powered buses and 14 new cities and regions in Europe which are considering moving into the field. These partnerships will facilitate the effective and smooth introduction and expansion of the new systems now and into the future.
An important part of the project will be to assess the environmental, economic and social impacts of the use of hydrogen powered buses. Hydrogen can be produced by different methods, including using renewable energy. Fuel cells use hydrogen to produce electricity while emitting only water vapour. Hydrogen and fuel cells can therefore play an important role in the reduction of local air pollutants, as well as in the decarbonisation of Europe’s transport system. Hydrogen powered transport is currently able to meet the normal operational requirements of buses and light passenger and commercial vehicles. The objective of CHIC is to move these demonstration vehicles towards full commercialization by 2015.
The project will also link with similar projects in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Whistler (Canada). These projects will bring their results to the CHIC partnership so that the CHIC cities can leverage off their considerable expertise and experience in the operation of hydrogen buses in public transport fleets. These projects are fully funded from other sources, thereby multiplying the impact of the funds injected into CHIC by industry and the European Union.
The buses in the CHIC project will be supplied by three different manufacturers and the hydrogen refuelling infrastructure will involve the main industrial players active in hydrogen infrastructure development around the world.
CHIC sees the deployment of the latest generation of fuel cell hybrid (FCH) buses, building on the successful field-tests of first and second generation FCH buses within the CUTE and HyFLEET:CUTE projects.
The project will guide additional regions in Europe in their first fleet application of FCH buses in public transport from 2012 onwards.
PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
  | EvoBus GmbH |
| Air Products Plc |
| Azienda Transporti Milanesi S.p.A. |
| Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe A.ö.R. |
| Element Energy Limited |
| Euro Keys SPRL |
| GTT S.p.A. |
| Hamburger Hochbahn AG |
| HyCologne - Wasserstoff Region Rheinland e.V. |
| HyRaMP |
| Infraserv GmbH & Co. Höchst KG |
| Institut für Innovative Technologien Bozen Konsortial-GmbH |
| ISE Corporation |
| Linde AG |
| London Bus Service Ltd |
| PE INTERNATIONAL GmbH |
| PLANET - Planungsgruppe Energie und Technik GbR |
| PostAuto Schweiz AG |
| SHELL DOWNSTREAM SERVICES INTERNATIONAL BV |
| Spilett new technologies GmbH |
| Suedtiroler Transportstrukturen AG |
| TOTAL Deutschland GmbH |
| UNIVERSITAET STUTTGART |
| Vattenfall European Business Services GmbH |
| Ruter As |
| Wrightbus Limited |
| Centro Ricerche Fiat |
| BC Transit |
PROJECT AIMS
| Intensively test the technology to generate learning for the final steps towards commercialisation by: |
| Operating 28 H2FC buses in medium sized fleets in normal city bus operation, and 10 FC passenger cars, and |
| Substantially enlarging hydrogen infrastructure in 5 European regions. |
| Embed the substantial knowledge and experience from previous H2FC bus projects (CUTE & HyFLEET:CUTE). |
| Accelerate the development of clean public transport systems in 14 new European Regions. |
| Conduct a life cycle based sustainability assessment of the use of H2FC buses in public transport, based on a triple bottom line approach considering environmental, economic and social aspects. |
| Identify the advantages, improvement potentials, complementarities and synergies of H2FC buses compared with conventional and alternative technologies |
| Build a critical mass of public support for the benefits of ‘green’ hydrogen powered transport, leading to increased visibility and political commitment across Europe. |
