Lee Kim Shin
KUCHING: Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin will be properly briefed on the halt of hydrogen supply for the state’s first three hydrogen buses today.
When contacted for comments today, he said he had in fact known about the issue of the hydrogen buses not being ready for public use a few days before the issue was highlighted by The Borneo Post and Utusan Borneo.
“I will only be able to make further comments after the briefing by Sarawak Energy,” he said today.
It was reported yesterday that the three hydrogen buses which recently underwent trial runs in the city in August are not ready for public use due to a temporary halt at the hydrogen production plant and refueling station.
The buses, which were specially delivered from China, were supposed to be accessible to the public and tourists at no charge, starting Sept 15.
Sources told Utusan Borneo (The Borneo Post’s sister daily) that the buses could not operate because of issues linked to fuel.
This was subsequently confirmed by Sarawak Energy Berhad, which explained that the production of hydrogen at its Integrated Hydrogen Production Plant and Refueling Station had been temporarily halted to accommodate improvement of matters discovered during the performance test period.
The energy developer and power utility group explained that during this period, contaminant liquid was observed at the bus receptacle, which may affect the efficiency of the bus in the long term.
“Sarawak Energy has referred this issue for rectification to the system and technology integrator, Linde EOX Sdn Bhd (Linde). The facility is still under warranty by Linde. Experts from Linde are on site to resolve the issue. Linde EOX Sdn Bhd is a subsidiary of Linde Malaysia and Linde Group,” said the statement.