Stuttgart-based Daimler Chrysler has received
more orders than it can currently fill for its future line of fuel cell-powered Citaro
city buses, according to a spokesman for the automaker.
Orders for buses have been received from 17 European cities, but only 10 orders
totaling 30 buses can be supplied at present, according to fuel cell project manager Dr.
Ferdinand Panik.
The first buses, costing approximately $1.2 million each, are scheduled for delivery in
late 2002. They are being marketed by Evobus, the fully-owned Daimler Chrysler subsidiary,
and tested under normal traffic conditions over a period of two years. Troubleshooting,
consulting, and maintenance over an initial two-year period are included in the purchase
price.
The fuel cell-powered Citaro is the successor to the NEBUS (New Electric Bus) prototype
introduced in 1997 that was based on the low floor city bus 0405N. The future model is
based on the current diesel-powered Citaro line. The Citaro fuel cell unit developed by
Xcellsis delivers more than 250 kw of electric power. The gas pressure bottles containing
compressed hydrogen will be located in an encased mounting on the roof of the bus. The
non-polluting vehicle will have a range of 300 km and carry around 70 passengers.
Daimler Chrysler is producing the buses through its 51 percent-owned Xcellsis Fuel Cell
Engines unit. Ballard Power Systems of Burnaby, B.C., owns 77 percent of Xcellsis; the
Ford Motor Company the residual 22 percent. The clean Xcellsis technology in which fuel
cells combine hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity to power a vehicle, leaving water as
a byproduct is also being tested in city bus fleets in Chicago and Vancouver, B.C.
A fuel cell-powered personal car is also under development by Daimler Chrysler for sale
in four years. The company plans to display its latest prototype, Necar 5,which uses
Ballard's most recent Mark 900 fuel cell, later this year. That cell is 70 per cent
lighter, half the size, and 50 percent more powerful than its predecessor. Daimler
Chrysler is a minority (20 percent) owner of Ballard.
Other automakers, including General Motors Corp. and the Toyota Motor Corp., are
developing automobile fuel cells, as is United Technologies Corp., which makes fuel cells
used on the Space Shuttle.
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