Detalle noticia

From left to right, César Llana, director of Operations and Maintenance of Alsa; Miguel Ángel Alonso, director of the European Funds & NX Engineering Office; Ángel Garrido, Minister of Transport, Mobility and Infrastructure of the Community of Madrid; Isabel Díaz Ayuso, President of the Community of Madrid; Jorge Cosmen, president of Alsa; and Víctor López, director of Transport of Alsa.

Madrid, February 23, 2021.- The mobility operator Alsa and the Community of Madrid have presented the first hydrogen bus that will operate in Spain on an urban line in a stable manner, in an event held at the Puerta del Sol presided over by the President of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, together with the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Infrastructure, Ángel Garrido, and the President of Alsa, Jorge Cosmen.

The president of the regional government pointed out during the presentation that “today a revolution begins in transport. The Community of Madrid is beginning to test the transport of the future, pollution-free transport.”

The president of Alsa, for his part, highlighted that “for Alsa this is only the first step for the development of broader projects for the incorporation of hydrogen vehicles into our operations. A first step within the common objective shared by society, administrations and operators to move towards more sustainable mobility, which contributes to a higher quality environment in our cities and regions.”

The bus incorporates pioneering propulsion technology, a hydrogen-powered fuel cell, which has outstanding environmental advantages such as zero emissions, since the only thing it emits is water vapor; It is also free of noise emissions, since its electric motor is completely silent; and it has great autonomy, unlike electric battery vehicles, which allows it to operate an urban line without long stoppages for recharges.

TESTS IN THE CORREDOR DEL HENARES

Initially, the Alsa bus will carry out optimization tests to evaluate its performance and that of the supply infrastructures, and later it will be made available to the Madrid Transport Consortium to operate in real form permanently and stably on an urban line of the Corredor del Henares.

With this, Madrid joins other major European capitals, such as London, Paris or Dublin, which are also carrying out tests of hydrogen buses, a technology still in the development and maturation phase, but which is called upon to play a key role in the ecological transition and in the sustainable mobility of the future.

COMMITMENT TO HYDROGEN

Alsa wants to lead and be a benchmark in the process of ecological transition towards zero emission fleets. For this reason, the company has made a strong commitment to hydrogen, a technology that will undergo a powerful boost that will accelerate its implementation in a very important way for the achievement of more sustainable mobility.

This commitment to hydrogen is part of a broader commitment by the company to the environment and sustainability, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Green Deal launched by the European Commission with the aim of reducing emissions until achieving emission neutrality in 2050.

Parallel to the development of the technology, Alsa has set itself the objective of incorporating hydrogen vehicles (fuel cell) into its regional and long-distance operations within three years.

ALSA SUSTAINABLE OPERATOR

In this sense, Alsa has been leading the transition to fleets with clean technologies for years. Thus, last year it incorporated a total of 63 Eco or Zero emission vehicles, including hybrid, electric or LPG buses, with an investment of 20 million euros. Also last year it put into operation the first 100% electric Autonomous Bus that circulates in Spain on a line open to real traffic on the campus of the Autonomous University of Madrid.

In the field of carbon footprint reduction, in the last five years it has managed to reduce direct Greenhouse Gas emissions by 11% in tco2eq./100 Km terms. generated by its activity. And in the field of environmental training and awareness, it develops Efficient Driving Programs, in which nearly 2,000 drivers participate each year.

The company's next major commitment is that by 2030 all urban bus incorporations will be zero emissions.

With this initiative, Alsa continues in its innovation strategy at the service of more sustainable mobility, and the Community of Madrid, which has been and is a world pioneer in the management of public transport, is also a pioneer in the introduction of cleaner mobility alternatives.