In the he German cities Bottrop and Gladbeck two low-floor fuel cell midibuses will be aprt of regular public transport service by Vestische Strassenbahnen GmbH, a regional transit authority.  The midibus was developed by the German company Hydrogenics GmbH (a subsidiary of Canadian Hydrogenics Corporation), with financial support of the North Rhine-Westphalian government and the European Commission trought the HYCHAIN project.  According to Hydrogenics, there are now ten of such buses in operation throughout Europe. Coming up to the 2010 Essen World Hydrogen Conference, the rather modest fleet should grow substantially. Deployment of the Midibuses is part of European project HYCHAIN MINI-TRANS. Within the project, four EU regions in France, Spain, Germany and Italy are developing a technical platform for a range of fuel cell-powered vehicles. The project’s aim is to demonstrate viability (technical, economic, and of public acceptance) of real-life deployment of fuel cell technologies and to establish the critical volume to trigger a steady reduction of production and operational costs. An Air Liquide hydrogen station is refulling the buses at the Gladbeck headquarters of Hydrogenics. Between refills, a midibus can keep going for around two hundred kilometres or nine hours of typical operation, carrying a maximum of 22 passengers. It takes a while to reach the maximum range, as the buses currently run at a top speed of around 33 km/h. For more information please visit the HYCHAIN website