Getting the hydrogen bus show on the road again
Romania is hosting a central and eastern European hydrogen bus show organised as part of the EU-funded projects JIVE and JIVE 2. Launched in May 2024, the roadshow will be travelling across Romania and then on to Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria, where it will be showcasing a hydrogen fuel cell bus in nine cities. This is the third roadshow of its kind organised by the JIVE projects, whose goal is to deploy about 300 zero-emission fuel cell buses in 16 European cities and regions by the mid-2020s. The first two roadshows – the first spanning 1 641 km across Czechia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia and the second 1 450 km across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – had a major impact on local demand. Having gained a better understanding of fuel cell tech and its advantages thanks to the roadshows, nearly all participating cities expressed a formal interest in using hydrogen fuel cell buses. The third roadshow now offers more European cities the opportunity to experience and test the technology.
The clean energy trail
The hydrogen bus was first showcased in the Romanian cities of Cluj-Napoca and Galati, where dedicated events were held in early May to address barriers these buses face in Romania and to try and find solutions. “The involvement of Romania and, especially, of the two cities – Cluj-Napoca and Galati – in the 2024 Roadshow is not arbitrary: both municipalities have shown their openness to green technology and have publicly expressed their desire to expand the fleet of buses with hydrogen vehicles, for a cleaner environment. We are proud to support this initiative as part of our desire to help bring clean energy solutions of the future to the reality of today,” remark the project’s national coordinators Cristina Păun and Andreea Gheorghe in a recent news item posted on the JIVE website. “I am proud to see that with its 3rd Road Show in Romania, Greece, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina, our project JIVE is continuing to show-case the hydrogen buses and refuelling stations to the interested local authorities in South-Eastern Europe. It follows the success of the previous roadshows in Central Europe and the Baltics last year, while generating interest in the commercialization of such fuel cell buses as a first step in the decarbonization of public transport in cities,” states Mirela Atanasiu, Executive Director ad interim of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, an EU-co-funded initiative supporting and funding JIVE (Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe) and JIVE 2 (Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe 2). “Through the funding provided by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, and the additional strategic collaboration with regional authorities and industrial partners, JIVE is a successful example of how we can position the EU as a front-runner to become carbon-neutral by 2050.” For more information, please see: JIVE projects website
Keywords
JIVE, JIVE 2, hydrogen, fuel cell, bus, roadshow, vehicle, hydrogen vehicle, hydrogen bus, clean energy
