For almost two years, Canadian technology and power solutions provider Cummins has been trialling its hydrogen fuel cells in 74 buses operating on roads in Zhangjiakou, China, as the city prepares for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Located in Northern China, Zhangjiakou is a challenging location for the games with elevation at over 2,300 feet and temperatures reaching as low as -8°C in winter, something that both Cummins, and its technology, is prepared for.

Cummins’ fuel cells are currently integrated into 49 12-meter buses and 25 10.5-meter buses. So far, the fleet has provided transportation service for over three million passengers, with each vehicle consuming 6.7kg of hydrogen every 100km.

The buses run on multiple routes across the city, including two of the routes with the highest passenger flow in the city. Every day the buses run for more than 14 hours, covering approximately 250km.

With a range of 500km, hydrogen refuelling time of only ten-fifteen minutes and start-up temperatures as low as -30°C, Cummins believes that fuel cells are the perfect solution for Zhangjiakou.

In other preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Zhangjiakou is also building its own hydrogen production base and working with Air Liquide to build multiple hydrogen stations to ensure smooth operation of fuel cell vehicles across the city.

Construction of the first ten hydrogen stations will be complete before the end of 2020, with another six scheduled for construction in 2021.