The European Parliament endorsed the provisional agreement on April 10, 2024, for the revised Regulation on CO2 Emission Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles. Widening its scope to nearly all new heavy-duty vehicles, the law aims to drive decarbonization in the transport sector with the targets: -45% by 2030, -65% by 2035, and -90% by 2040.
The new rules compel truck manufacturers to escalate average emissions reduction thresholds by increasing sales of zero-emission trucks and buses powered by batteries, fuel cells, or hydrogen.
The HyWest research laboratory at the Green Energy Center Europe in Innsbruck, has undertaken the HyBus Implementation Project since year 2021. The aim of this project is to introduce Austria’s first three hydrogen buses into real operation.
The first hydrogen bus in Vienna was implemented on Wiener Linien in urban areas in December 2021, where the company’s own hydrogen tank infrastructure was also implemented at the same time. The commissioning of the second hydrogen bus for regular service in Graz took place in July 2023. In addition, successful test drives were completed in the Alpine region (Tyrol and Vorarlberg).
The HyBus Implementation project was developed as part of the Codex partnership of the Green Energy Center Europe, which researches the two crucial processes “Power on Demand” and “Power to Hydrogen” for the reconstruction of the energy system towards climate neutrality and energy autonomy. The knowledge necessary for the implementation of real economic projects is gained in the two research laboratories E-West and HyWest. The HyBus project is managed here under HyWest and handled by FEN Research.
