Romania will host a Southeast Europe Hydrogen Bus Roadshow
Romania will host a hydrogen bus roadshow through Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) this spring. It is part of the JIVE projects supported and funded by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership (CHP).
A hydrogen fuel cell bus will be made available at the beginning of May 2024 for testing and demonstration. It will go to Cluj-Napoca and Galati, and seven more cities in Romania, Greece, Bulgaria and Bosnia & Herzegovina. This will be the third JIVE project CEE roadshow. CHP aims to showcase the technology based on hydrogen and allow cities to experience it.
The previous hydrogen bus roadshows have increased the local demand
The first roadshow was organised between November 2022 and January 2023. The bus travelled 1641km across five countries – Slovenia, Croatia, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary. The second roadshow was held from September to mid-October 2023. The bus went through four countries – Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – travelling 1450 km.
These initiatives were a success and had an important impact on local demand. Nearly all participating cities announced a formal interest in deploying hydrogen fuel cell buses. It also contributed to a higher understanding of the technology and its benefits to a large audience.
Mirela Atanasiu, Executive Director ad interim of CHP, said: “I am proud to see that our project JIVE continues to showcase the hydrogen buses and refuelling stations to the interested local authorities in Southeast Europe.
“It follows the success of the previous roadshows in Central Europe and the Baltic. Generating interest in commercialising fuel cell buses is the first step in decarbonising city public transport. JIVE is a successful example of how we can position the EU as a front-runner to become carbon-neutral by 2050.”
“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. They have publicly expressed their desire to expand the fleet of buses with hydrogen vehicles, for a cleaner environment”, said Cristina Păun and Andreea Gheorghe, national coordinators of the project. ‘’We are proud to support this initiative as part of our desire to help bring clean energy solutions of the future to today’s reality.”
The EU is moving towards becoming carbon-neutral by 2050
Dedicated hydrogen bus roadshow events will occur in Cluj-Napoca on May 9, 2024, and in Galați on May 13, 2024. They aim to address the different barriers to hydrogen-powered buses in the country and attempt to find solutions. It will host representatives from the CHP, Hydrogen Europe and ERM together with Romanian central and local authorities’ representatives, experts, and energy associations.
The CHP supports research and innovation activities in hydrogen technologies in Europe. It aims to accelerate the development of advanced clean hydrogen applications ready for market, across end-use sectors such as energy, transport, building and industry, while strengthening the competitiveness of the clean hydrogen value chain.
The partnership members are the European Commission, fuel cell and hydrogen industries represented by Hydrogen Europe and the research community represented by Hydrogen Europe Research.
Byline: Reinis Alksnājis
