Hydrogen History

Since we're in lockdown and I have nothing better to do in my already-introvert life, I decided to humor those of you who are usually more extrovert, that is to say, read this to pass the time in your life of probable-eternal-boredom.

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Whereby a name is stated and no © is present, the photo is Some Rights Reserved and may be used in accordance to the license. 

The history of hydrogen, unlike diesel-electric hybrids, is more clear zapped than foggy like the latter counterpart. For context, Optare had a fully-electric MetroRider (model bought from MCW, predecessor to Solo) in the late 90s. Wrightbus were testing diesel-electric hybrid ElectroCitys on the 184 in 2002 before making the technology valid for consumer use in as early as 2006.

Arriva also tested another type of fuel for buses: Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

Weirdly the only bus in London mind you, was put on double decker route 253, I couldn't find records, I'm open to correction though. In any case, this is a trend in this post but for now it's just the one vehicle.

Tom Page
ESQ64991 (LK53MBO), Aldwych

In 2004, two years after the RV1 was born, Transport for London joined 9 other cities in the world to test out hydrogen fuel cell technology, the first of the kind, each city receiving three Citaros each. However, these vehicles were deployed on the 25 as extras before being sent on to the more adequate RV1 which already had Citaros of the same size. 

Julian Walker
[Diesel] ES64008 (LT02NUF), London Bridge

The long 2-year trial was rather bumpy, but it was uncharted territory. Any failures could be forgiven, as this was only the revolution of H2.

 - One such was the fuel time, which was supposed to be 30 mins but sometimes took three times the length, over 90 minutes in some cases.

 - Another, their short range meant they could only operate for a few hours, notably in the morning.

Still, TfL were happy with zero emission through hydrogen so the trial was even extended an extra year to 2006, though in the end, the 3 Fuel Cell Citaros were decommissioned and Mercedes further researched into the tech.

   As for the diesel Citaro allocation of RV1, without trace in June 2010 they left for First Berkshire and RV1 used brand new Enviro200s used in Uxbridge (UX) in the interim.

Focusing on the Fuel Cell Citaro. It had a: 

   Range of 37 miles (60 km), weighed 14 tons, 

   consumed between 20-24 kgs of H2 per 100km.

In perspective, it's similar to how early electric buses performed. Bad range, took long to fuel (charge in the case of this comparison), and also weighed a lot. Just like the BYDs though, it packed a lot of power. It had two 125 kW motors, which is 335hp. The same power produced in today's electric Citaro, Mercedes can never change their German identity.

WSH62993 (LK60HPJ), City Hall

TfL weren't having any of that waiting for Mercedes to better their product, thus the RV1 was removed out of the tendering programme and 5 new hydrogen VDL SB200s bodied by Wright were bought, with 5 more being diesels. Britain's Wrightbus got the upper hand on Mercedes with London's first hydrogen fuel-cell hybrid. This instead turned out to be 8 hydrogen VDL SB200s and Enviro200s filling in the gap, as the initial 5 were done in 2010 but the latter 3 were assembled in 2013.

One factor why the 3 trialled on 25 and RV1 were inefficient was the fact they used 9 tanks of hydrogen to directly power the motor, until I break it to you with Wright's way around this, you'll have no context. Therefore:

   Range of 300km, weighed 11 tons, consumed 8-9 kg of H2 per 100km.

   using 4 tanks of hydrogen, powering a 0.5 kWh supercapacitor.

Yes, the folks at Wright used supercapacitors before ADL could show off Smart Hybrids which led to Mercedes for once copying someone else's homework. 

   Back on topic, this allowed the WSHs to do a full day's work without the need to refuel. Caveat, however, they had to be stood down during the 2012 Olympics; in short, for safety issues.

   Further on with the use of the supercapacitor with a low energy output, it does give reserve to the fuel tanks which in turn extends the range.

B Balaji
IAA Fair Hanover 2010

It's not like Mercedes didn't come up with a concept themselves. The Fuel-Cell Hybrid. Launched in many cities with London not being one of them, for comparison:

   Range of 250km, consumed 10-14 kg of H2 per 100km.

   using 7 tanks of hydrogen, powering a 26 kWh battery. 

   Motors drive the wheels with peak power at 335hp.

The Germans decided to use a battery instead, though, which aren't as great as supercapacitors for releasing energy quickly, like a boost of sorts. Trade-off being you can't store energy well inside capacitors, super or ultracapacitors do alleviate some problems. Plus, with the supercapacitors... they'll last the lifespan of the vehicle. Whereas batteries, which have less charge cycles (charging, dying, repeat), will die out within 5-7 years.

There is a glaring silver lining with hydrogen though. Their manufacturing process is as harmful to the environment as petrol and gas, since you're still using fossil fuels. 95% of the world's hydrogen comes from natural gas or oils. The other 5% comes from electrolysis (chemical decomposition of materials using electric currents inside liquid).

So they aren't much cleaner than diesel to produce. Okay. Is there another benefit? I hear people say water comes out the pipe?

Yes. Water is the only exhaust from hydrogen-powered vehicles as they also use electrolysis to produce the current needed for the motors to use as power to move the wheels. Even if TfL have an ad of someone putting a cup to the tailpipe and waiting for every droplet to fill up, I advise against drinking one, for safety reasons. Just putting it out there as people do eat outlandish stuff in the world...

Is there another benefit to hydrogen then, surely?

Yes, they can blow up and you'll have to be evacuated a few kilometres away, hydrogen is very explosive. It's among the most explosive materials in the periodic table but not by a longshot the top three or any sort. I hate science. I'll do this science thing only because it involves buses.

...

BH63102 (LJ67HTG), Tower Bridge/City Hall

I would like to cover one final part, the Van Hools and the 'upgrade' on the WSHs on 444.
There aren't much specs that are concrete on the Van Hools that I can fuss over, think of it as similar to the upgraded Citaro Hybrid Fuel-Cell, however, what I can speak for at a little length is the VDL SB200 hydrogen vehicles.
After the untimely death of RV1 after it's halved frequency, the hydrogens went out in full force onto the route 444 Chingford - Turnpike Lane. There was no problems for the European Van Hools with sufficient motors, but a problem for the urban-focused Wright Pulsar. In fairness, hydrogen buses were designed as an urban alternative rather than a motorway possibility, but it's there even if it's more inefficient. What brings the point home is the already troubling top speed of them, at hoots above 30mph. That is a speed unforgiving on the 50mph A406.
   Therefore, TfL made a suggestion to Tower Transit. Taking away some of the heavy tanks to make them save more fuel. This suggestion didn't cater for a loss of range, the solution to that being on weekends hydrogens took their holidays from motorway 444. Less tanks also means the vehicle is drawing in less power, making them slower. Big oof there.
As a side note, one of the roads on 444 took up a WSH in the form of a pothole. Dare I say 12 tons of weight channeled into small wheels with hydrogen tanks on top was a slight design flaw.

Just to bring the stats in one spreadsheet for the relevant London part. Thanks for reading as always, stay safe indoors. Download games to pass the time.

July update and the spreadsheet link (bit of a hodgepot of data).

Update 11/11/2020: I believed after the withdrawal they were all scrapped but 64992 has been preserved, photo by Glasgow61588.

Note: Usage of any photos on this blog isn't permitted where no name is present (meaning it's mine, ©Unorm), or an All Rights Reserved symbol © is present. If you desire to use a photo, you must contact the original author. In my case, you should contact my Flickr. 

Whereby a name is stated and no © is present, the photo is Some Rights Reserved and may be used in accordance to the license.