 | | | Mounted safely in an accessible location: the powertrain system |
| The Canadians at the company Ballard are responsible for the system integration of the drive system. Fuel cells alone won’t do the trick: the stacks include coolers and modules with pumps, filters and heat exchangers. |
There are also nine compressed-gas tanks on the roof with a volume of 1845 litres, providing 40 kilogrammes of hydrogen at a pressure of 350 bar. The entire system rests upon a reinforced roof construction.
The space on the roof is ideal, not just because of its easy access for maintenance and repair but also for the safe arrangement of all the equipment. The latest and highest safety standards for hydrogen-powered vehicles are taken into account and further developed during construction and production, building upon many years of experience with gas-powered buses.
In the underfloor at the rear of all 30 Citaro buses there is equipment which has been tried and tested again and again: an electric engine with 600 volts and 200 kW output, a six-speed automatic transmission, the drive shaft and the usual rear axle. All of them together ensure efficient cycling conduct just as with diesel or gas-powered urban buses. All in all the Citaro is still largely a standard bus, even with fuel cell drive.
This makes things easy for manufacturing. Although the first fuel cell bus was outfitted by the Canadian specialists at Ballard with the new drive technology, all subsequent units were rolled off the assembly line in the Mannheim plant just like the "normal" Citaro buses. This is just another sign that fuel cell buses are on their way to becoming completely normal. |
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Models
