As London reveiled its 50 battery powered electric bus fleet on September 14, 2016,  the 8 fuel cell electric buses are steaming ahead on the RV1 London busline since 2010. The London fuel cell buses are part of the CHIC project that recently clocked 9 mln km driven by the buses participating  in the project, 36 to date,  including a combustion engiine fleet in Berlin. The FCH JU has put big efforts in pushing the procurement of fuel cell buses to reduce costs, publishing a report in August 2016 on setting up a joint procurement strategy for the purchase of fuel cell buses in clusters in Europe including the CHIC locations and  BENELUX, France, German, UK and Latvian interests. The FCH JU is currently co financing 4 FC bus projects with a total of 77 buses foreseen running by the beginning of 2017. A new project looking at doubling this figure is currently in negotiation.

Photo: courtesy Van Hool