KUCHING: Kuching will have a temporary maintenance centre for hydrogen buses by the end of this year.
This was revealed by Foshan Feichi Automobile Manufacture (China) general manager Jiang Young yesterday during a courtesy call on Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin at Baitulmakmur building in Petra Jaya.
The temporary centre is expected to be located at PPKS/International College of Advanced Technology Sarawak (i-Cats) campus in Tabuan Jaya.
“We only have three hydrogen buses at the moment. Next time, when we have more (buses), then we will have a proper maintenance centre.
“Apart from that, we will also be sending our people to China for maintenance training on hydrogen bus,” Lee told a press conference yesterday.
Earlier, Sarawak Metro Sdn Bhd signed a sole agency agreement with Feichi for the sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in South East Asia at Menara Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC).
Lee added with Feichi’s commitment, the Sarawak government was more confident and would seek the necessary support in terms of technical support, training for the mechanics as well as maintenance.
He said Feichi had shown them the results of the reliability test on the hydrogen buses here.
“Although the buses are in Kuching, they did the monitoring online in China.
“They monitor the movements of our buses in Kuching and know their performance level, hydrogen consumption, the number of hours on the road and so on.
“They have run a thorough reliability test and the result shows that the performance is very good,” he said.
Jiang Young told reporters they had been testing the fuel cell buses for the past three to four years and that they had collected an enormous amount of data to prove their system was running smoothly and was commercially viable.
“All the data collected from the buses in Kuching are reflected in our database in China. Everything from the operator’s driving habit, consumption of hydrogen, the voltage perimeters and current perimeters are being monitored.
“We are happy to arise that all are within the acceptable limit. In fact, the energy efficiency is very satisfactory,” he said.
Jiang added that Feichi would provide all the after sales support for the hydrogen products in Kuching.
“These include the training of the bus operators and the training of the mechanics to ensure the smooth running of our products (hydrogen fuel cell buses) in Kuching.
“We are extremely confident that there will be no concern about our fuel cell buses,” he said.
