In its future operating location of Hamburg, Germany, the new Mercedes Benz Citaro Fuel Cell Hybrid made its first public appearance earlier this week.

From 2010 onwards, 10 of the 30 new fuel cell buses being produced by Daimler Buses will make their way to the Hamburg transport authority.

The new Citaro Fuel Cell Hybrid Bus is powered by two fuel cell systems of the same type used in the B-Class F-CELL. However, thanks to improved fuel cell components and hybridisation with lithium-ion batteries, the vehicle consumes around 50 per cent less hydrogen compared to the preceding generation and has an operating range of 155miles. As an added bonus, the fuel cell drive system is almost maintenance free and has a long operating life.

The bus will now take part in a number of large-scale fleet trials which are scheduled to take place in Hamburg and a number of other European cities. The trials follow on from the European Union’s CUTE and HyFLEET:CUTE projects which ran from 2003 to 2009. The latter saw 36 Mercedes Benz Citaro buses fitted with second generation fuel cell drive systems and perform well across three continents.

According to Hartmut Shick, the head of Daimler buses, the new Citaro Fuel Cell Hybrid shows that electric mobility is already feasible with commercial vehicles. His words were backed up by Professor Kohler, the vice president of e-drive and future mobility at Daimler AG, who outlined that the main objective now is to achieve a competitive cost level in comparison to conventionally powered vehicles and to create a full infrastructure of electric and hydrogen filling stations.