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SINGAPORE: Singapore's first hydrogen-powered public bus will hit the streets next month.
It'll be the first such bus in Southeast Asia and promises to help save the environment.
Called GreenLite, it does not emit carbon and is "low" on noise.
It's powered by a battery system and fuel cell technology that "converts" hydrogen into electrical energy and creates pure water as a by-product.
The bus is jointly developed by researchers from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and China's Tsinghua University over seven months.
Professor and associate dean (research) at the College of Engineering in NTU, Soh Yeng Chai, says: "This is a new concept in the sense that the standard fuel cell bus uses about 80 to 100 kW (kilowatt), whereas ours is only 40 kW.
"The whole idea is that we want to use the concept of combining hydrogen and battery system to co-power the bus. So under normal conditions, the fuel cell stack is strong enough to power the bus, and at the same time charges the battery. But in high-load conditions, we need to use both the hydrogen and the battery to power the bus.
Such eco-friendly technologies don't come cheap.
Hydrogen costs six times more than diesel.
Prof Soh says: "Currently to run 100 kilometres, we need about 10 kilograms of hydrogen; that translates to about $300."
Still, SBS Transit will be testing out this fuel cell bus, as well as a hybrid bus that runs on both diesel and electricity.
It has trained eight bus captains to operate these buses.
Gan Juay Kiat, CEO, SBS Transit, says: "We're in the early stages of this trial, and we have to consider the capital cost and the operation and maintenance costs of the bus. That's why we're embarking on this trial to understand it more before we make a decision, going forward as to having more hybrid buses in the fleet."
GreenLite will be used first as a shuttle bus for athletes and officials at the Youth Olympic Village next month.
After that, it'll be used for Service 179 and 199, while the hybrid bus will ply the route of Service 185 for a year. - CNA/jm
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