Operators’ guide to fuel cell bus deployment – version 1

Operators’ guide to fuel cell bus deployment – version 1.0: Information received from potential hydrogen fuel cell bus suppliers during the JIVE project suggested that a lead time of at least one year is expected from the date of order to the delivery of the first buses. This lead time is expected to decrease as bus suppliers invest in their production lines in preparation for a larger-scale roll out of buses. However, depending on the results of the tendering process for each cluster and the number of bus manufacturers involved, there may be a need to adopt a phased approach to bus deployment. Where possible, the project will deploy buses in batches to complement the service requirements of the bus operators. The expected bus deployment timeline is shown in Figure 7 in section 1.3.2.3, with the first deployment of buses expected during the first quarter of 2019. Previous projects such as CHIC and High V.Lo City suggest that teething issues during the initial introduction of the fuel cell buses is common and a lower availability phase at the start of the project should be expected. Therefore, this project includes a six month teething period during which suppliers will iron out any technical issues with the vehicles and maintenance teams become experienced in carrying out preventative and corrective maintenance. By building upon the lessons learned during previous fuel cell bus demonstrations and deploying buses with a number of technical improvements, the JIVE 2 project aims to reduce the length of this teething period and achieve high average fleet availability (>90%) from early in the operational phase. In order to capture the lessons learnt during the initial deployment phase, brief reports of issues encountered and recommendations on how to avoid them will be prepared for each deployment location. These reports will be collated into an overarching “lessons learnt from fuel cell bus deployment” report, which will form part of the Best Practice Reports.