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49 min ago 2 min read
Italian public transport operator TPER has put the first of 127 hydrogen-powered buses into service in Bologna.
The Urbino 12 buses from Polish manufacturer Solaris Bus were ordered in 2023, in batches, and will operate on urban routes and suburban links to the wider metropolitan area.
It comes after the Municipality of Bologna secured €69.9m ($81.4m) in from Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) to finance the vehicles, alongside €5m ($5.8m) in TPER’s own funding.
Powered by a 160kW fuel cell module and with a range of up to 350km, they add to what Solaris said is a fleet of over 800 hydrogen buses in Europe.
The company also recently secured a tender for for public transport in Krefeld, Germany, due online in 2027.
It comes after Italy transposed green hydrogen mandates under the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive III (RED III) into national law in February. These include a quota for green hydrogen to make up 1% of transport energy by 2030.
However, H2 View understands that Italy intends to implement RED III mandates through secondary legislation. No timeline has been revealed.
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