France/Ile-de-France transport: the Region opts for biomethane to replace its buses
Launched in 2017, the decarbonization of the entire Ile-de-France bus fleet is continuing with new orders for equipment running on natural gas.
With 10,500 buses and coaches - including some 4,800 for the RATP alone - running every day in the Île-de-France region, it has the second largest fleet in the world, after São Paulo, Brazil. And while some models in the fleet still run on diesel, others already boast cutting-edge technology. Since 2017, Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) - the organizing authority for public transport in the Paris region - has in fact launched a plan to modernize its vehicles, and is gradually replacing them with so-called "clean" buses. These include electric buses, biogas-powered buses and, perhaps soon, hydrogen-powered buses. "We are committed to decarbonizing our fleet, and our 10,000 buses are in the process of being completely replaced", Valérie Pécresse reminded us on Friday. The region's president is aiming for 100% clean buses in urban areas by 2025, then in rural areas by 2029. An investment estimated at 4 billion euros.
And "we're on schedule", confides Laurent Probst, General Manager of IDFM, who points out thatjust over 4,000 clean buses have already been deployed in the region, including 2,800 electric or biogas-powered and 1,300 hybrids. Today, the polytechnician explains that he "no longer buys hybrid models", which still run on diesel, but is now moving towards a mixed fleet of "electric or biogas buses". Why not choose one or the other? "Electricity has many virtues, but not enough range. With a maximum range of 180 km, it's not enough for buses in the inner suburbs. What'smore, there's no such thing as an 18-meter articulated electric bus", says IDFM's CEO. He continues:"Conversely, for safety reasons, we can't put biogas bus depots in the city, so the electric bus meets a need in the city".
Betting on biomethane, before hydrogen
"For the moment, we're keeping to our target of having around 5,000 clean buses everywhere in dense urban areas by the end of 2025," he continues. To achieve this, IDFM is issuing calls for tender and placing orders by the bucketful. Around 1,000 new buses arrive on the network every year, more than half of them from the Iveco plant in Annonay. The Ile-de-France transit authority alone accounts for 40% of this Franco-Italian manufacturer's sales. "Iveco is one of our major partners", enthuses Valérie Pécresse, who visited the group's French plant on Friday. The politician, who prides herself on "having imposed very strict CSR clauses" in her calls for tenders in order to "exclude Chinese manufacturers" and "to order only 100% French buses", has found an ideal supplier for its electric and biomethane buses. And IDFM has just announced that it has placed an order for 151 new articulated buses and 700 Midibus biomethane-powered vans designed for small communes in the outer suburbs.
The latter models have a real environmental interest, as they run on waste produced by the region's farmers. To fuel them, the Region has even invested in a dozen agricultural methanizers. These machines can be used both to valorize farm products or by-products (livestock effluents, crop residues, intermediate crops, etc.) and to process waste.) and process waste from the agri-food industry or local authorities (cereal residues, lawn clippings, sludge from wastewater treatment plants, etc.). As IDFM points out, the use of bioNGV "enables CO2 emissions to be reduced by 80% compared with a diesel vehicle of the same generation".nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions seven times lower than those of a Euro VI bus" and "90% fewer particulates".
An "industrial choice for a circular economy" on which Valérie Pécresse has placed her faith, and who now wishes to "go further". While the European Parliament is studying the possibility of banning the sale of biomethane buses in 2030 or 2035, which the President deeply regrets, she now wants to "commit to the production of hydrogen buses". "I've come back from Annonay extremely happy, with the prospect of having the first French hydrogen bus (...).) It's very important for us to explore a technology that seems very promising", she asserted, betting that Iveco would rise to the challenge. A mission that Domenico Nucera, CEO of Iveco Bus, said he was ready to accomplish, in order to offer IDFM its "first hydrogen vehicle, as a real flagship for the future fleet". He assures us that he is "capable of mass production while maintaining a high level of innovation". In the meantime, however, there's no question of abandoning biomethane buses, which the head of the Ile-de-France region hopes to "continue producing until we've made the transition to hydrogen buses".
As for whether bus investments will be put on hold once the entire fleet has been replaced. The President answers "no", as it will then be time to launch a new bus plan "to take over" from the first, to design new lines to serve the stations of the Grand Paris Express, the supermetro whose construction will not be completed until after 2035. "At Île-de-France Mobilités, we don't have an investment problem," she assures us. Before adding: "Thetransport revolution also means buses. And why is that? Because I'm convinced that we won't be able to reduce the number of cars in the Paris region, and really fight against self-driving cars, unless we launch an efficient bus network". The time will then come for a new network of carbon-free buses in Greater Paris.
Source: www.lefigaro.fr/
