Drenthe's experience with H2 buses for zero-emission public transport

By project GH2M

Published on 20 February 2025

Netherlands

Drenthe

About this good practice

Drenthe wants be a leader in Green Hydrogen chain. Together with the Province of Groningen we are a hydrogen valley.
The public transport company (OV Bureau Drenthe-Groningen) of the provinces Groningen and Drenthe are working together.

There are hard agreements for public transport in the Netherlands; in 2030 all public transport must be Zero-Emission.
What did OV Bureau do so far?
2017: start pilot: 12 electric buses / 2 hydrogen buses

Pilot is successful – 2020: new contract
190 ZE buses of which 42 Hydrogen buses.
2 Hydrogen refuelling stations

Because of the limited grid capacity in Drenthe and Groningen it was not possible to switch to fully electric buses. But the Zero Emission ambitions of the OVbureau are high therefor alternatives where researched. They started a pilot in 2017 with the first 2 Hydrogen buses. This pilot was very successful the hydrogen buses where very suitable for long(er) distance transport between the bigger cities.

After this successful pilot OVBureau has purchased another 42 hydrogen buses, Shell supplies the hydrogen and is responsible for the construction and maintenance of 2 hydrogen refilling stations: Emmen & Groningen
Both parties want commitment therefor a 12-year contract is signed with a guaranteed price for the hydrogen (OVBureau) and a guaranteed purchase of kilo’s hydrogen (Shell)

Resources needed

Purchase of 42 hydrogen buses (OVBureau)
Construction and maintenance of 2 HRS in Emmen and Groningen (Shell)
Guarenteed purchase of xx kilogram Hydrogen against a fixed price during a 12-year period (till 2032)

Evidence of success

OVBureau has the ambition of being completely emission free.
2021: 196 ZE buses on a total of 380 buses
2021-2030: purchase of 200 ZE buses
2030: total fleet zero emission.

Without the hydrogen buses it wasn't possible to drive emission free, in 2021 the biggest challenge on the location of OVBureau was netcongest.
Hydrogen buses have made an important contribution to emission free public transport (21% of the fleet 42/196 are zero-emission hydrogen buses)

Potential for learning or transfer

Learning by doing; OVBureau started in 2017 as the first public tranport company with just 2 hydrogen buses to experience how this works.

After a short pilot period they bought 42 hydrogen buses, they had a lot of challenges (bankrupt Van Hool, troubles with maintenance of the HRS) but for Shell and the OVBureau are highly motivated to make this a succes.

Hydrogen buses have proven to be a perfect alternative for long distance (between bigger cities)