Second French city dumps hydrogen bus plan for cheaper electric buses

The French city of Pau, which become a pioneer in the use of hydrogen fuel-cell buses, has become at least the second French city to dump its proposed adoption of hydrogen buses and will switch to battery electric buses instead.

The city of Pau cited frequent breakdowns and increasingly costly hydrogen fuel bills for its decision to end its four year experiment with hydrogen powered rapid transit buses,  a report from French magazine La Gazette des Communes has revealed.

The decision by the city of Pau follows a similar move by Montpellier, which last year canceled a plan to buy more than 50 hydrogen buses after officials determined that operating the same amount of electric buses would cost just a sixth of the original project, saving it €2.5 million (almost $A4 million).

Pau’s hydrogen-powered BRT (bus rapid transit) system began operation in December of 2019 using eight hydrogen fuel-cell buses made by Van Hool. It is committed to buying four more, but the city says this will be the last and future purchases will be battery electric.

According to Pau’s operations manager for transport, Jérémie Neillo, frequent breakdowns and a near-doubling in hydrogen fuel bills has meant that the city is now looking to purchase battery electric buses instead.

The 6km route the hydrogen buses were running on reportedly runs 85% of the day on dedicated lanes that are protected from other traffic, and boasts prioritisation at crossroads, meaning that travel time for getting around Pau is only 17 minutes.

But Jérémie Neillo told La Gazette des Communes that Pau was “going to buy eight buses per year over the next ten years” and that “hydrogen would be too difficult to manage.”

“The production station has more problems than expected and the buses have lots of very small breakdowns,” said Neillo.

“As for me, I spend three quarters of my days there even though it is only one of 17 lines!”

The cost of hydrogen has also exceeded original expectations, with 2023’s bill set to set Pau back €400,000 – or around $A670,000. Thus, according to Neillo, the running costs of the hydrogen fuel-cell buses nears nearly a million euros per year.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles have a 30% “well-to-wheel” efficiency because of efficiency losses from electrolysis, compression and refuelling, compared to around 75% for battery-electric alternatives, and this has meant a particularly high bill for Pau’s H₂ buses amid rising electricity costs over the past year.

But Neillo nevertheless defends the original decision to buy hydrogen-powered buses, citing strong government support, a greater range over battery electric buses (at the time), and a reluctance to invest in a charging infrastructure that would prevent modification or extension of the route.

“Looking back, it was the right choice. If we did the project today, it would be more questionable. On the one hand, subsidies are drying up for this type of project. On the other hand, the autonomy of electric buses increases year after year.”

Additional information sourced from Hydrogen Insight.