On Wednesday 4.5. a press conference on the H2Carinthia project took place in Klagenfurt with Carinthia's Economic and Mobility Provincial Councilor Sebastian Schuschnig and the consortium partners Infineon, ÖBB-Postbus, OMV, Linde and the renowned hydrogen research company HyCentA. Up to 40 hydrogen buses are to run in Carinthia.
With H2Carinthia, Postbus is involved in a project that is unique in Europe, in which green hydrogen used in industrial microchip production is recycled and then used a second time to power buses. In this way, a total of up to 40 buses in the Villach area are to be powered by hydrogen. In May 2021, there was a corresponding test run in Villach. In October 2021, Postbus ordered the first 5 hydrogen buses for this project.
From test to real operation
Postbus has already proven that trial operations work in October 2018 in a pilot operation on Vienna Airport Lines routes and in mid-August 2019 with further tests in Graz and Klagenfurt. But in December, the first five public buses will then start in the Villach-Land region, which will be fueled with hydrogen. In total, there will be 40 buses, each carrying 74 passengers. The deployment of five hydrogen buses will start in December 2022. Postbus will thus be the first bus company in Austria to operate hydrogen buses in intercity transport.