Mhybus proved that hydromethane is ready for large scale applications in urban transport
Mhybus brought the first hydromethanefuelled bus in Italy to circulate on urban roads. The bus ran for more than 45.000 km in the city of Ravenna on a normal service line of START Romagna. With an average of 212 km per day, more than 10.000 passengers were on board Mhybus.
During road tests no technical problems due to the use of hydromethane occurred. Periodical leak tests, as well as final bench tests on the engine and on some of the engine’s components to monitor their behavior after exposure to hydrogen gave positive results.
Results from monitoring of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions showed that both are significantly reduced thanks to the use of hydromethane. On 45.000 km, almost 6 tons of CO2 emissions were avoided and 1,8 tons of methane saved.
The extension of the use of hydromethane to a larger bus fleet could therefore bring strong environmental benefits. But, what are the costs?
In Ravenna, based on obtained data about fuel consumption, yearly costs, amount to about 800-1000 €/vehicle, a part from the investment costs for the infrastructure (for further details see the Technical Guidelines).
Large scale hydromethane application can lead to considerable savings on external costs of transport, i.e. those costs caused by environmental impact of transport but paid by the entire society.
| Annual fuel costs per vehicle (45.000 km) |
800 – 1000 € |
| Tons of avoided CO2 emissions | 5,98 ton CO2 |
Annual reduction of external costs of transport thanks to the use of hydromethane per vehicle* |
- 419 € |
* based on Maibach et al., 2008.Handbook on the estimation of external costs in the transport sector.