In Germany, a M.A.N. City Bus has been operating successfully in the town of Erlangen for test and demonstration purposes, and now it is in regular service in the town of Munic. In Norway, the Greater Oslo Local Traffic Company is trying to initiate a demonstration project that would put four hydrogen buses into regular service. The Folkcenter for Renewable Energy in Denmark is in the midst of a project in which a stationary cogeneration plant will be run on hydrogen produced with wind electricity on days with high wind velocity. A plant like this is a good starting point for development of the technology, because a cogeneration plant operates with almost constant power and there is lots of space for the storage. The next step in a development scheme could be a bus in regular service, converted for hydrogen.
Some buses cover relatively few kilometres per day.
There is enough space for the hydrogen vessels on the roof, and the driver can take part in the tests. The storage tanks on the bus can be refilled at night with hydrogen produced at a bus station with an electrolyser, where pure water by electricity is separated into its two elements, oxygen and hydrogen. Production of hydrogen can be controlled in relation to the local wind conditions and thus can act as an extra load in the local wind-electricity supply system. Thyholm's scheme features a hydrogen bus as an important element in converting the transport sector to renewable fuels. Folkcenter for Renewable Energy, Kammersgaardsvej 16, Sdr.