ATHENS – The first Greek urban bus running on hydrogen was tested on regular schedules on Wednesday by OSY SA, which runs the buses and trolleys for the Transport for Athens (OASA Group).

The Urbino 12 Hydrogen was provided to OSY by Solaris Hellas SA following an open invitation by the Infrastructure & Transport Ministry.

OSY CEO Stefanos Agiasoglou said “we started the test drive of hydrogen-powered buses to assess their operation under Greek reality conditions, and to determine the way to prepare our facilities for the demands of hydrogen-powered vehicles.”

The bus has been operating in the center of Athens for around a month on the cyclical route of Ano Patissia to Zappio, tranporting hundreds of passengers daily for free.”The future in transportation is in hydrogen, and it is possible that the future of road transport is based on the vehicle we tested,” Agiasoglou added.

OSY is participating in the first European pilot programs for the use of hydrogen in transport, and will soon acquire three such vehicles, funded by the European Union.

Solaris general manager Theodoros Chatzipanagiotou noted that the company has been applying hydrogen-powered technology since 2015, and it has a zero carbon footprint.

Urbino 12 Hydrogen is a typical 12-meter low-floor vehicle and can transport up to 37 seated passengers. It has three two-panel doors and an electric ramp in the middle one for mobility-impaired passengers, heating, and anatomical seating, LED lighting that can be regulated, and a leaning system to assist passengers boarding or leaving the bus. The bus uses hydrogen fuel cells, conveyed through two electric engines that are incorporated in the wheels on the back.