TMB, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, announced in a press release a purchase order of 36 hydrogen-powered buses from Solaris. Two of these buses are articulated buses, which will be the first to roam the roads in Spain.
Following a public invitation to tender launched in September 2023, TMB decided to purchase 36 units of Urbino 12 H2 buses for over 23 million euros. This purchase is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
The public transit operator chose the same Polish manufacturer to purchase 2 articulated buses. In fact, these will be the first articulated hydrogen-powered vehicles to travel the roads of Spain. They were selected following a call for bids for a sum of 1.8 million euros. This purchase is financed by a subsidy from the project JIVE2*, where TMB is Spain’s representing operator.
Barcelona: From 8 to 46 hydrogen buses
Laia Bonet, TMB president, states that “with these acquisitions TMB will go from 8 hydrogen-powered vehicles, which are currently travelling the X1 line, to 46 buses”. She adds that they are “making progress in the transformation of buses with more zero-emission vehicles”. Furthermore, Bonet affirms that “TMB has become a benchmark in hydrogen and sustainable mobility throughout Europe”. It is worth mentioning that the operator has been a pioneer in introducing a hydrogen-powered bus into public transport for the first time in Spain, in April 2022. In fact, the first hydrogen plant for public use in the country was a partnership between TMB and Iberdrola.
The new buses will be incorporated during the second half of 2024. By this time, TMB will have 232 electric buses and 44 hydrogen-powered buses in its fleet, reducing CO2 emissions by 4.7 tonnes and NOx emissions by 22 tonnes.
*The JIVE project deployed 298 hydrogen-powered vehicles and 20 refuelling stations in 6 countries in the European Union.
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Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Mariem Ben Tili
