AC Transit to Roll Out Hydrogen Fuel Buses
By Justin Beck
Hydrogen, the most abundant substance in the universe, will soon power some AC Transit buses, eliminating noisy, polluting diesel vehicles.
AC Transit has contracted with a Belgian company to purchase three buses, powered by fuel cells designed by two companies: ISE Research-ThunderVolt, Inc. of San Diego and UTC Fuel Cells, based in Connecticut. The buses will be delivered in July 2004, when AC Transit will begin to compare their performance with diesel buses.
AC Transit will spend $14.9 million to conduct the evaluation. More than $10 million will come from the state.
The three test buses, each worth about $3 million, will operate in a variety of settings including hilly areas, on trunk lines that carry more than 20,000 riders a day through densely populated neighborhoods, and on the Transbay Express service to San Francisco, where speeds can reach 65 mph.
Fuel cells are "revolutionary and evolutionary," said Jaimie Levin, AC Transit's director of marketing. They combine hydrogen fuel with oxygen from the atmosphere to produce electricity, heat, and water. Since the tailpipes of fuel cell buses emit only steam, they don't pollute the air. And because fuel cells contain no moving parts, they operate silently.
"The fuel cell has clearly grounded potential in replacing the internal combustion engine," said Levin. But, he said, "there are still many unknowns about durability and cost." Among those unknowns are the long-term costs of hydrogen fuel and of maintaining and repairing a fuel cell bus over its lifetime.
One of the challenges facing the introduction of the new technology, said project manager Doug Byrne, is overcoming the public's concern about hydrogen as a fuel. "The first thing people associate with hydrogen are bombs or the Hindenberg," Byrne said. We need to dispel those myths and reinforce the positive aspects."
Byrne noted that fuel cells are safer than some people think. "There's a widespread belief that hydrogen is dangerous," he said. But with fuel cells "there is no burning or ignition of hydrogen."
A more serious challenge for fuel cell buses is matching the standards of diesel
buses. "In terms of cost and performance, fuel cell technology initially
will not meet that of diesel but we expect it to get there eventually,"
said Byrne.
If AC Transit demonstrates that fuel cell buses are more reliable, and easier
and cheaper to maintain than their diesel counterparts, said Byrne, then large-scale
production will become possible. With increased production, the price of the
fuel cells will drop.
Other important comparisons between hydrogen fuel and diesel buses include safety,
maintenance, parts availability, general reliability and equipment down time,
said Byrne.
If all goes well, within the next decade 15 percent or more of AC Transit buses will run on hydrogen fuel cells, helping to create a cleaner, quieter future.