Our rural district will receive two new buses this year. A demonstration bus was already there. It is supplied by the Portuguese company Caetano. Buses have been produced there since 1946. However, the two are said to be particularly environmentally friendly buses.

Caetano has also been manufacturing purely electric buses since 2014. But we are not satisfied with this, we prefer hydrogen technology, here combined with a fuel cell. So it is convenient that Caetano has just entered into a CO branding with Toyota.

Our two buses, called 'H2 City Gold', will therefore be partially equipped with the technology of the Toyota Mirai. However, there is only a pressure of 350 instead of 700 bar in the 5 tanks on the roof. The buses are each powered by a 180 kW motor from Siemens.

Unfortunately, nothing is learned about the torque that is so important in trucks and buses. There is a 10.7 m and a 12 m long variant. Our buses can transport up to 87 people, the previously favored Mercedes Citaros, however, more than 100.

No, Daimler does not offer such buses, although it was a shareholder in Caetano until 2010. If you switch to pure electric mobility with the Actros, for example, the price can almost triple. Our two buses are about twice the price compared to a bus with a combustion engine.

However, anyone who thought that everything except the tanks should be accommodated in the space of the former engine for reasons of a favorable center of gravity is mistaken. The fuel cell and the battery required as a buffer for the various requirements of the engine also apparently have to be put on the roof.

The manufacturer himself specifies the consumption of the H2 bus with a length of 10.7 m as 6 kg/100 km. If you think the range of up to 400 km given by the manufacturer is an understatement, you have to consider the necessary cooling / heating output for the passenger compartment of 32/38 kW and the driver's seat of 8/22 kW, but the cooling output for the passenger compartment at Comfort can even be 39 kW (data according to Mercedes).