They may do a good job at keeping our streets clean – but how clean are they themselves?
The humble street sweeper may be about to undergo a transformation thanks to a development by a Swiss research consortium led by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research and the Paul Scherrer Institute.
Testing has begun on the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell street sweeper with computer simulations showing that the fuel cell system could halve the tank to wheels energy consumption of the sweeper compared to a conventional diesel engine. This would enable a full well-to-wheels reduction in CO2 emissions of around 40 per cent compared to the diesel system.
The project is one of the outcomes of an effort known as “hy.muve” which also serves as a research platform for socio-economic studies which place the focus on the acceptance of hydrogen technology.
Known as the Bucher CityCat H2 it will replace a 55kW diesel engine and hydraulic drive with a 20kW fuel cell system from Proton Motor, a 12kWh lithium-polymer battery and an electric drive from BRUSA with a 7.5kg compressed hydrogen storage system.
