Alsa, a Spanish mobility company, has put into service the country’s first urban bus powered by renewable hydrogen.
The bus will run in Torrejón de Ardoz, which is part of the Community of Madrid’s public transportation network, which is managed by the Regional Transport Consortium (CRTM).
This has been made possible by the installation of a hydrogen generator at the Alsa facilities, the first of its kind in the Community of Madrid for public transportation, which ensures the supply of hydrogen and thus solves the main requirement for the development of this technology., which is tasked with playing a key role in the future’s sustainable mobility.
The bus and hydrogenerator were unveiled at the company’s Torrejón de Ardoz headquarters in a ceremony presided over by David Pérez Garca, CAM Minister of Transport and Infrastructure and President of CRTM, and Ignacio Vázquez Casavilla, mayor of the city.
Zero emissions by 2035 is a commitment to the environment.
This achievement is a step forward in the company’s new environmental challenge, which is outlined in the commitment that by the year 2035, all Alsa urban buses in Spain will be Zero Emissions. For the year 2040, the same zero-emission fleet commitment is made, but this time with a focus on long-distance coaches.
This new environmental challenge represents a significant expansion of the current commitment, which calls for all new urban bus purchases to be zero-emissions by 2030.
In this regard, it’s worth noting that Alsa hasn’t used any non-Eco or Zero-emission vehicles in its urban operations since 2020. Currently, the company has 455 alternative propulsion vehicles in various configurations (electric, hybrid propulsion, CNG/LNG and ECO dual fuels, both CNG and LPG) as part of its commitment to sustainable mobility. This represents 15% of the total fleet operating in Spain.
It was necessary to install a hydrogen generator for the first start-up of this first operation with a hydrogen bus in the Community of Madrid for public transportation. Carburos Metálicos, a leading company in Spain’s industrial and medicinal gases sector, completed the installation, which will also supply renewable hydrogen.
The service is provided by a CaetanoBus H2 City Gold bus, which is zero-emission. It gets its energy from hydrogen, and its fuel cell generates electricity using Toyota technology. As a result, it only emits water vapor and produces no noise. Alsa has been testing this model in various operations in Madrid, Oviedo, Bilbao, and Zaragoza over the last year in order to get through the learning curve of this new technology as quickly as possible.
The start of this zero-emission urban line follows the announcement last week of the Shyne (Spanish Hydrogen Network) project, Spain’s largest consortium for renewable hydrogen development, of which Alsa is a promoter partner.
Alsa continues its innovation strategy in support of more sustainable mobility, and the Community of Madrid, a world leader in public transportation management, is also a leader in the introduction of cleaner and more innovative mobility options.
