Fuel-Cell Electric Buses (FCEBs) have been deployed in multiple demonstrations in Europe, Canada and the USA, but they still suffer somewhat from comparatively high costs and low availability.

Oddly enough, the availability issues have mostly been due to control issues and hybridisation strategies rather than to the fuel cells themselves. GIANTLEAP aims to increase availability and reduce the total cost of ownership of FCEBs by increasing the lifetime and reliability of the complete fuel cell system through advanced online diagnostic, prognostic and control systems. The aim is to reach and possibly exceed the level of availability of diesel buses.

Read more about how the GIANTLEAP project will improve the understanding of degradation in fuel-cell systems here.

The FCH JU is supporting the market deployment of Fuel-Cell Electric Buses with a financial contribution of 61 million Euros so far for  projects deploying 67 buses in 12 locations in Europe.

Discover the FCH JU bus demonstration projects:

• CHIC
• HyTransit
• High V.LO-City
• 3EMOTION

GIANTLEAP group picture of first project kick-off meeting.