The world's first tram powered by hydrogen energy rolls off the production line at a CSR Qingdao Sifang Co plant in Qingdao, Shandong province. This is the first time that hydrogen energy has been applied in the tram manufacturing. China has also become the first country worldwide to possess the technology to make hydrogen-fueled streetcars. (Photo/Xinhua)
Mar 21, 2015: China has successfully developed the technology that enables the use of hydrogen to fuel rail vehicles, as it presented on March 19, Thursday, the world's first hydrogen-powered tramcar at an assembly facility in Qingdao.
Liang Jianying, chief engineer of Sifang Co., a subsidiary of China South Rail Corporation (CSR), told Xinhua that China is the only country in the world that has fully developed the technology for rail system and the new tram is the only one of its kind in the field.
"It took two years for Sifang to solve key technological problems, with the help of research institutions," Liang was quoted as saying.
Hydrogen fuel cells are considered as a new source of clean energy, which are popularly used in automobiles but rarely applied in rail transportation, the report said.
The report added that refilling the tram with hydrogen only takes about three minutes, but it can run the distance of 100 kilometers at the maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour.
"The average distance of tramcar lines in China is about 15 km, which means one refill for our tram is enough for three round trips," Liang added.
The report added that refilling the tram with hydrogen only takes about three minutes, but it can run the distance of 100 kilometers [62 miles] at the maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour[43mph].
I find this a bit underwhelming.
The hydrogen storage tanks are fairly small. And the more hydrogen you put in them, the lighter they become. You'd think they would put more tanks in so they didn't have to fill so often.
They mention three round trips per fill-up. So they could go outbound for three 15km legs and back to the main fueling depot. So this is a strategy for converting local commuter lines within 50km of the main fuel hub to hydrogen trams. A hub like that becomes a 100km x 100km area where trams are all powered by hydrogen, all fueled primarily from a single central fuel hub.
Overall, it's more workable than some of China's other train and bus ideas which have fallen flat.
I'm mostly surprised the Japanese didn't beat China to the punch but they seem to be concentrating on automotive hydrogen.