The management of the EMT company in Palma has approved the purchase of the supply of five hydrogen buses that cost one million euros each and that have not been in circulation since their purchase a year and a half ago by the former socialist mayor José Hila.
The EMT Board of Directors approved at its meeting on Thursday the award of the hydrogen supply to these five vehicles that remain inactive due to lack of this fuel, since they were acquired by the previous government team. According to forecasts, green hydrogen buses will start circulating at the end of this year.
The competition budget amounts to 219,928.80 euros and has been allocated for one year to Power to Green Hydrogen Majorca company, with a cost of 10.59 euros per kilo. In addition, the provision of a temporary hydrogen distributor to load the five buses.
The object of this contract is its temporary rental, which includes the installation and its complete maintenance which will allow the recharging of buses across trailers filled with hydrogen.
The tender budget for this contract is 324,352.60 euros and has been awarded to the company PRF-Gas Tecnología e Construcao.
The only hydrogen bus of the former socialist mayor Hila that the streets of Palma saw was one of 18 articulated meters, which turned out to be just a show and did not provide any service to citizens.
Only It was used for photos and propaganda by the previous municipal government, including the journey through the streets of central Palma of the former first mayor of Palma with the current president of the Congress, Francina Armengol.
Although the current management of the EMT has looked into the alternative of transporting hydrogen by ship and launched a call for tenders for its import, this has been abandoned twice. The reason is that the Maritime regulations are very strict in terms of safety. transport of dangerous goods and there is a pressure limitation (200 bars) of hydrogen tanks.
Former Mayor Hila’s millionaire buses require such high pressure (350 bars) that this limitation prevented the vehicle from efficiently charging hydrogen to fill its tank.
The Deputy Mayor for Mobility and President of the EMT of Palma, Toni Deuderostressed this Thursday that with the approval of these two calls for tenders “the five hydrogen buses could start circulating before the end of this year.”
The mayor explained the process that will follow for the buses to obtain hydrogen from the Lloseta plant. “The green hydrogen necessary for the operation of the buses It will be transferred from the Lloseta plant to the EMT garages in some tanks. This hydrogen will then be introduced into the hydrogen plant and from there it will be injected into the buses so that they can circulate on the streets,” he detailed.
These buses have been at a standstill for a year and a half
Deudero regretted that these five buses have been inactive for a year and a half, recalling that “they were acquired by the previous government team when it knew it could not obtain hydrogen” due to the unusability of the Lloseta plant.
They represented an investment of 4.8 million euros, when a petrol bus costs 280,000 euros. With this expenditure, we could have bought 15 petrol buses that would provide the service.
On the other hand, the EMT Board of Directors approved the award of the contract for consulting and technical assistance services for the preparation of the tender documents for the construction, commissioning and provision of the new EMT operational base.
With this file, the company will receive the necessary support for the preparation of all the documentation necessary for the tender, including general and technical conditions documents, the basic project and the processing of licenses so that the company’s construction project can be executed. new ECO EMT operational base in the Son Rossinyol industrial area in Palma, as well as the new service building.
