In Germany, the Chinese delegation paid visits to several fuel cell bus manufactures, two demonstration cities (Stuttgart and Hamburg) of CUTE and visited on-stie where hydrogen production and refueling took place. They also rode on a FCB. While visiting several departments of the German federal government, the delegation investigated in detail the transportation & energy strategy and policy for alternative fuel vehicle in Europe and the hydrogen construction plan in Berlin. The details of the visits are as follows.

　　2.1 Daimler Chrysler (D/C)

　　The delegation visited Daimler Chrysler on Dec. 2, 2003. Mr. Andreas of D/C started out with a presentation on the D/C FC bus program developing plan. According to the introduction, D/C has invested very heavily on FCV/FCB R&D. D/C is not involved in the R & D of fuel cell engines. It invests in fuel cell engines mainly through holding the stock of Ballard. The Chinese delegation and D/C exchanged the opinions about the GEF-UNDP project. Mr. Cheng Jiachang introduced the China FCB project, and explained that this project will also conduct international procurement. D/C is interested in the GEF-UNDP project and will participate in the project bidding if possible.

　　2.2 Evobus GmbH

　　The date of visit was Dec. 2, 2003. EvoBus annually produces 2200 city buses including 30 fuel cell buses (1.5% of the yearly production).

　　Fuel cell bus production is mixed on the same production line of ordinary city buses and CNG buses with the same operators. They also share the same logistics, purchasing, planning and production support. No special security measures and special training are required for most of the production areas. Fuel cell bus is of the same size and same weight with the other buses (14T/empty bus)

　　Before fuel cell stacks are assembled, diesel trailer generators providing 600 V electric power are used to drive the buses from one site to another in the production plant. No special security requirement is involved in most of the production buildings.

　　Only in the building where fuel cell stacks is mounted, filled and checked, security device is used for hazard prevention and hydrogen leakage detection. The highlights are:

　　■ Temperature sensor detects the temperature above 100°C;
　　■ Hydrogen is only released to the pipe attached to the hydrogen tanks;
　　■ The same security device is used in the maintenance garages too.

　　Before filling hydrogen into the tanks, leakage is tested with N2 using the same testing device for CNG leakage testing. The difference is: for H2 , testing pressure is up to 350 bars and for CNG, pressure is only up to 250 bars.

　　At EvoBus, an open air H2 filling station is built in the area next to the CNG filling station. H2 bottles are trucked-in by trailers. The pressure of H2 is 250 bars. Filling equipment is very easy to handle and the filling nozzle is equipped with a error-proof device to prevent from filling into a CNG bus.

　　2.3 Hamburg-Consult and Hamburg Hochbahn AG

　　Hamburg Hochbahn AG is a public transportation service company 100% owned by Hamburg Municipality. The company operates 3 lines of Metro (100.7 km) and 111 lines of bus(1053 km). Hamburg Hochbahn AG owns 650 buses. Hamburg is one of the participating cities of CUTE project through this company, Hamburg Consult is a consultation company in public transportation management affiliated to Hamburg hochbahn AG (46% share owned by Hamburg Hochbahn AG). It is responsible for the Hamburg Part of CUTE project.

　　Items of Interests Learned:

　　■ Centralized on-site H2 production and filling facilities can be built in the terminal station for the bus refilling and the safety regards are easily controlled.
　　■ Maintenance garage can be equipped with a security device to lead the H2 outside with pipes in case of leakage. This security measure is shown to be effective in the last production plant of EvoBus.
　　■ Good cooperation between government, vehicle manufacturers, energy supplier and infrastructure building company is needed to implement such a project
　　■ When fuel cell bus is in operation, especially in the beginning stage, technical support from vehicle manufacturer and fuel cell stack manufacturer is very important.

　　2.4. Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing

　　German government promotes public transportation to replace private cars in city areas with high population density. It also promotes new energy applications in public transport through cooperation projects. While the federal government sets the overall policy framework, the local government will implement the policies in practice. The overall governmental target is to reduce the pollution caused by transportation and to realize sustainable development of the environment fulfilling the goals of "Kyoto Protocol".

　　German government attaches great importance to cooperate with industry, as demonstrated by the implementation of the "Transport Energy Strategy" in 2001. The cooperation's tasks are to evaluate new energy sources as well as the transportation tools using such new energy. Consensus has been reached that H2 will be a future solution of new energy. However, the government sets no restriction on the kind of new energy to be adopted. Freedom is given to the enterprises to have their own choices for solution. An on-going cooperation is the "Clean Energy Partnership Berlin", which introduces H2 as a fuel for road transportation. The task of this project is to test and demonstrate the production, transportation, distribution, storage and refueling of H2, as well as the operation and maintenance of H2-vehicles (FC+ ICE). The project goal is to demonstrate and prove the safe and reliable utilization of hydrogen as a fuel. Another goal is to validate the possibility of limited usage of domestic renewable primary energies for the hydrogen generation. The detail description is as follows.

　　Time frame: 2002-2006

　　Partner: ARAL/BP, BMW, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GHW/NorsskHydro, GM, Linde, Vattenfall

　　Budget: 18.4 million Euro (exclu. Vehicles), 5 million Euro governmental funding

　　Tasks:

　　■ Further development of future technologies;
　　■ Identification of prerequisites for the usage of hydrogen as fuel for road transport;
　　■ Proof of the feasibility of the whole system for the on-site electrolysis of hydrogen at the filling station;
　　■ Safe and reliable refueling and operation of different H2 vehicle concepts (CGH2 and LH2 with FC and ICE);
　　■ Recommendations on means to overcome technical and regulatory barriers against the build-up of a hydrogen infrastructure

　　Proof of the service availability, customer acceptance and attractiveness as well as positive environmental effects

　　Phase 1(10/2002-04/2004):

　　Detailed project planning
　　Manufacturing of first hydrogen vehicles
　　Planning and construction of the filling station

　　Phase 2(05/2004-12/2004):

　　Start of Operation
　　Vehicle tests performed by OEM's

　　Phase 3(01/2005-12/2006):

　　Extended Operation
　　Vehicle tests performed by customers and the OEM's
　　The first H2 refilling station will be built in a residential area in conjunction with an ordinary gas station. Safety is the key focus. Security evaluation is undergoing for the approval by the Berlin municipal government.

　　Items of Interests Learned:

　　1. Producing H2 from renewable sources (wind, hydro-power, solar power, etc.) shall be options.
　　2. Not many vehicles both combustion and fuel cell are available now for demonstration
　　3. Because of the infrastructure, only big city area and bus and commercial vehicles could be covered by the pilot projects
　　4. Fuel cell cost is high: 10000 Euro/1kw(H2 combustion: 300 Euro/1kw), because of the membrane technique and precious metal used