Although the European laws for the limitation of emissions proved to be very efficient leading to really good results it is doubtful whether gasoline and diesel can be used as fuels in motor vehicles for an unlimited period of time. The problem of the "greenhouse effect" generated partly by the release of CO2 from combustion engines along with the limitation of the natural reserves of oil and natural gas call for the search for an alternative fuel. Hydrogen is currently the undisputed alternative for the future. With the help of two scenarios the short-term and medium-term effects of the introduction of hydrogen powered fuel cell buses are being analysed on behalf of the Ministry for Environment and Traffic of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg using the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg (Germany) as an example. The evaluation of the economic effects is intended to show the supplementary costs arising for the bus operators due to the new actuation concept. The estimation of the ecological and economic effects is being effected based upon the presentation of energy consumption and emissions occurring in case of the implementation of hydrogen powered fuel cell buses in comparison to the values furnished by a diesel powered bus. (A)
Abstract