Alsa has launched in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) the first urban bus powered by green hydrogen, in collaboration with Toyota, supplier of the vehicle, in a bid to make this energy “a reality in the transport network in Spain.
Both companies have explained their goal of making all their vehicles zero-emission in the medium term. While Toyota expects to reach zero emissions in 2030 in its entire fleet, Alsa plans to have all its urban buses zero emissions in 2035 and intercity buses in 2040. “A goal that we even want to advance,” reflected Alsa’s director of engineering and European funds office, Miguel Angel Alonso.
In this sense, the financial director of Toyota Spain, Fernando de Miguel, has highlighted the collaboration agreement with Alsa, whose future strategy is “very similar”, as they seek that heavy vehicles, including buses, run on green hydrogen.
Among the advantages of this bus, which runs regularly on two of the urban lines of Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid), the company has highlighted its autonomy of approximately 450 kilometers, and the speed of charging, “another of the strengths of vehicles powered by green hydrogen compared to those with electric charging,” in the words of Fernando de Miguel.
To demonstrate this speed, Alsa’s managers have exemplified how this charging process is in the hydrolinera they have at their facilities in Torrejón de Ardoz.
Commitment to hydrogen needs infrastructure and financing
During the presentation, the heads of Toyota and Alsa have expressed some of the main demands to continue their commitment to green hydrogen, among which are the need for more infrastructure and a regulatory and financial framework that allows access to this type of combustion.
The financial director of Toyota Spain has explained that currently its range of vehicles powered by green hydrogen is refueled thanks to the hydrogen plant in Manoteras (Madrid), inaugurated in January 2021, although circulation is very limited because, “despite the great autonomy”, there is not enough infrastructure on the road to make long trips. “If there were not this problem, green hydrogen vehicles could be sold normally,” said De Miguel.
Thus, he called for greater administrative regulations to promote new hydrogen plants, although it is not among “the functions of the company”, in an appeal to public administrations to carry out this “hydrogen route”.
On the other hand, Alonso has expressed that from Alsa they are “pending” of the European aids, putting “many hopes” in projects like the Perte of the green hydrogen, which will allow to cover the technological deficiencies, as well as to create a hydrogen network that generates energy for these vehicles.
