Hydrogen fuel cell bus trial draws to a close

20/8/07

Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan announced today that the operational phase of Perth’s hydrogen fuel cell bus trial would be completed as scheduled in early September.

Ms MacTiernan said that the buses had prevented more than 300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions since the trial started in 2004.

“The three hydrogen fuel cell buses in the Transperth fleet, operated by Path Transit, have covered more than 260,000km and carried more than 330,000 passengers during that time,” she said.

“The trial of the clean green technology has resulted in a wealth of hydrogen related skills and expertise in the State Government, academia and industry. It has also greatly increased public awareness of transport energy issues.”

The Minister said that the trial had been the flagship project for the Department for Planning and Infrastructure's Sustainable Transport Energy Program (STEP).

Ms MacTiernan said the achievements and interest in the work had been recognised nationally and internationally.

“Perth was the only southern hemisphere participant in the international trial, along with Hamburg, Stuttgart, Luxembourg, Stockholm, London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Reykjavik, Madrid, Porto and most recently Beijing,” she said.

“Most of the cities have finished their trials, while Beijing is close to finishing and Hamburg and Amsterdam have continued on to a fourth year with nine and three buses respectively.”

Ms MacTiernan said the State Government had invested about $10million in the research and development project, while the Federal Government contributed another $3million through the Department of Environment and Water Resources.

Western Australia would continue to benefit from the trial with ongoing participation in the HyFLEET Clean Urban Transport Europe (CUTE) program and collaboration with international automotive development companies and energy policy developers for a hydrogen based transport system in the future.