[Riviera, 4/21/2022]

Many container ships will be eligible for hydrogen fuel cells – and the time to make it happen is now. This was discussed during Riviera Maritime Media’s Developing hydrogen fuel cells for container ships webinar, part of Container Ship Tech & Ops week. Panellists included ICCT Marine team Associate Researcher Elise Georgeff… Ms. Georgeff looked at the transpacific container ship corridor for her presentation. She explained, “We model a ship route’s energy demands and compare them to the engineroom’s capacity to hold hydrogen fuel cells – then estimate if the routes are feasible with the liquid hydrogen (LH₂) the ship can store on board. If not feasible, we investigate options to increase attainment, like including an extra refuelling location.” The aim of the study, she said, was for ports to see what they need to prepare for in terms of hydrogen for the future, and to describe what infrastructure ports need for hydrogen refuelling. The study looked at average weekly and highest weekly demands and concluded that for one year, there was a Pacific-wide demand of 700,000 tonnes for container ships, and that the Aleutian Islands of Alaska were strategically important for hydrogen refuelling, allowing for 171 additional voyages. Ms. Georgeff summed up, “It is a first glimpse of what ports can expect when hydrogen becomes more mainstream.”

[Hindustan Times, 4/14/2022]

The number of public buses in Delhi rose to 7031, the highest for the city so far, with transport minister Kailash Gahlot inducting 80 low-floor air-conditioned CNG buses under the Delhi government’s cluster scheme… Currently cluster buses are operated on 328 city routes network. The additional 80 buses will be deployed on 9 additional cluster routes from newly constructed bus deports in Ghumanhera village in order to improve rural connectivity… According to various court orders, Delhi is supposed to have at least 10,000-11,000 public transport buses to cater to its population of nearly 20 million. Amit Bhatt, Managing Director for India at the International Council on Clean Transportation, said, “Buses are vital for sustainable development of Delhi. Delhi government needs to be congratulated for adding more buses in city. It is also time that Delhi government develops a long-term plan to shift to even cleaner option – electric buses because with e-buses the impact would be even more significant.”

[Warszawa Nasze Miasto (translated from Polish), 4/6/2022]

The data concerning the emissions of vehicles in Warsaw were presented in the report “Evaluation of real-world vehicle emissions in Warsaw”. It was prepared by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). The same organization that uncovered Volkswagen’s cheating in exhaust control tests. Now, in cooperation with the city and the Polish Smog Alarm, road pollution levels in Warsaw have been measured. From September 24 to October 9, 2020, the pollution emitted by a total of 147,777 vehicles in Warsaw was examined. Sensors and cameras were used for the study, allowing thousands of cars to be checked daily. The system also detected diesel cars, and the results were compared with CEPIK data. The results are frightening. Diesel cars (which account for about 30 percent of all vehicles in Warsaw) emit as much as 2/3 of all harmful nitrogen oxides. Most of them are those that are over fifteen years old. Soon they will no longer exist in the city center. The restrictions will cover at least the Śródmieście area. Only on such a scale will we be able to feel the changes – explains Michał Olszewski, Deputy President of Warsaw. Concrete decisions will be made, however, after the analyses conducted by ICCT are completed. The final vote belongs to the Council of Warsaw.

[New York Times, 4/3/2022]

There are just 15 electric public buses on the streets of New York, out of a fleet of more than 5,900 buses. There is just a single electric police patrol car, a Tesla, and only one electric garbage truck. And in a city with nearly 1.9 million registered passenger vehicles, zero-emission vehicles make up less than one percent. Despite the urgent need to move away from burning fossil fuels that accelerate climate change, the nation’s largest city is embracing electric vehicles at a tortoise-like pace and lagging behind other major American cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. As a result, New York will have to work much harder to adopt greener options, including meeting an ambitious goal of electrifying its municipal fleet of nearly 30,000 vehicles, from ambulances to the car that carries the mayor, by 2035… In a city where street space is a precious commodity, many chargers are squeezed onto crowded curbs alongside truck loading zones, bike lanes and bike racks, newsstands and outdoor dining, where they are routinely blocked. “These competing uses do exist in other cities,” said Dale Hall, a senior electric vehicle researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit environmental research group. “But I think it’s perhaps even more politicized and competitive in New York.”