Air Liquide's station in Loges-en-Josas services the first ever fuel cell bus commissioned in France

The first fuel cell passenger bus in France has just been commissioned. Running between the towns of Versailles and Jouy-en-Josas in the Yvelines department, it recharges its hydrogen tank in the Air Liquide station in Loges-en-Josas.

This is the first commercial fuel cell electric bus to be commissioned in France. Serving the "Versailles Grand Parc" community of agglomerations, it meets the region's energy transition objectives aiming for an entirely clean Île-de-France Mobilités bus fleet running in densely populated areas by 2025 and in the entire region by 2029. 

The number 264 bus uses Air Liquide's Loges-en-Josas station, where it can fully recharge in just 20 minutes. The tank can hold 39 kg of hydrogen, giving the bus a range of 300 km. All the drivers have received training on the specificities of using a hydrogen station.

A second bus is set to be commissioned in the coming weeks. This is a seven-year program on a bus line that carries 1,000 passengers every day.

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The hydrogen at the Loges-en-Josas station is produced at the Port-Jérôme facility (Normandy) using a CO₂ capture technology, Cryocap™.

Cryocap is a solution unique in the world that captures much of the CO₂ emitted (up to 90%) during the production of hydrogen. The CO₂ is then liquefied and purified to be valorized for different applications.

Thanks to the CertifHy Guarantees of Origin platform, the hydrogen produced in Port-Jérôme, for the station of Loges-en-Josas amongst others, is Low-Carbon certified in the frame of a pilot project initiated by the European Commission and financed by the FCH JU (Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking). Guarantees of Origin will enable end users to consume certified Green or Low-Carbon Hydrogen all over the European Union.

Even when produced from natural gas, hydrogen is a virtuous energy: at equal distance traveled, electric hydrogen cars can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% compared to combustion vehicles while not emitting any fine particles.