Fuel Cell Electric Buses in California

From the California Fuel Cell Partnership

Fuel Cell Electric Buses in California

More than 15 years of experience in California

California has 20 fuel cell electric buses (FCEBs) operating in daily revenue service at three locations.

• 13 in the San Francisco East Bay by AC Transit
• 5 in the Coachella Valley with SunLine Transit, with 7 additional buses planned for delivery
• 1 at UC Irvine
• 1 at Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) (coming April 2016)
• 1 25-passenger transit shuttle is funded for operation by Fresno County Rural Transit Agency
• 2 25-passenger transit shuttles are funded for Cal State LA
• 2 29-passenger transit shuttles are funded for SunLine

Interest in zero-emission buses is growing here and abroad

38 applicants recently applied for $23.6 million (FY14-15 funds) in state funding for zero-emission buses and medium and heavy-duty vehicles. This grant funding cycle was over-subscribed for a total of $290 million in requests. Another $60 million was planned for FY 15-16 for this program, but remains unappropriated.

• The European Union is currently soliciting applicants for a program to build up to 100 fuel cell electric buses, validating industry reports that sufficient volume can reduce the cost to an equivalent of $700k per bus.
• In China, construction has begun on more than 300 FCEBs for the cities of Rugao, Foshan and Yunfu in 2016/17.
• In Japan, Hino, a subsidiary of Toyota, plans on producing 100 FCEBs for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Why FCEBs?

Fuel cell electric buses have consistently demonstrated superb operating performance in their ability to maintain sustained power and acceleration in a wide spectrum of operating conditions, smooth and quiet operation, and the same range as conventional buses with about double the fuel efficiency. Plus -

• No local in-route emissions
• Quiet operations
• Operate well in extreme temperatures

FCEBs pave the way for the introduction of heavy-duty vehicles

• Transit agencies tend to be first adopters of advanced heavy-duty vehicle technologies. Such efforts enable the private sector to assess and adopt these technologies.
• Supporting zero-emission buses, battery and fuel cell, will not only help local transit agencies contribute to on-road emission reduction, it will also help develop the technology for other medium and heavy-duty vehicle platforms.

Status Report

• More than 2.7 million miles in service in California.
• More than 2.5 million passengers carried in California.
• DOE and DOT have set performance targets. These targets (e.g. range or fuel economy) have been achieved or are within line of sight without requiring major technology advances (e.g. durability).
• California Fuel Cell Partnership CaFCP.org
• FCEBs are at Technology Readiness Level 7 – Level 9 is considered commercial.
• The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has collected FCEB data across North America since 2004.

SunLine Transit (Thousand Palms, CA)

• In 1994, SunLine was the first transit agency in the U.S. to transition its entire fleet to CNG buses.
• In 2001, SunLine acquired its first FCEB. The most recently received buses represent SunLine's 8th generation of FCEBs.
• Since then, its fuel cell buses have accumulated more than 1.3 million miles.

AC Transit (Oakland, CA)

• Since 2000, AC Transit has been building the most comprehensive hydrogen fuel cell demonstration program in the United States.
• From 2006 to 2010, AC Transit operated three FCEBs, logging more than 270,000 miles and carrying over 700,000 passengers, all while achieving significantly greater overall energy efficiency than diesel buses.
• In 2010, AC Transit received 12 new FCEBs, which have since logged more than 1.4 million miles and 174,281 hours of operation. In 2014, the FCEB transferred from CT Transit was added, bringing the total size of the AC Transit fleet to 13.
• The lead fuel cell on one bus is now at 22,000 hours of life and is a 2002 design that was not expected to exceed 5,000 hours.
• AC Transit's fuel cell buses have consistently achieved 60% greater fuel efficiency than comparable diesel buses. On higher speed, commuter routes, the efficiency has been as much as twice that of the diesel fleet.

Centers of Excellence

CaFCP's members developed the Bus Road Map which calls for Northern and Southern California centers of excellence in order to provide the economies of scale necessary for substantive cost reductions. SunLine Transit, a national and international leader in FCEB demonstration, is committed to becoming a center of excellence and a showcase for the technology.


A center of excellence would have these features:

• A large scale deployment of fuel cell hybrid buses that comply with transit agency requirements and are operated in normal revenue service on scheduled runs (e.g. no compromise or deviation in service)
• A 12-year operating period, per US DOT FTA
• Hydrogen fueling infrastructure with throughput sufficient to achieve a fuel cost per mile comparable to conventional buses
• Regional training and education for transit staff and community stakeholders

Resources

• National Fuel Cell Bus Program
• Fuel Cell Bus Targets
• National Fuel Cell Bus Evaluations
• International Fuel Cell Bus Collaborative

Questions? Contact the California Fuel Cell Partnership
Nico Bouwkamp, Technical Program Manager, nbouwkamp@cafcp.org
Keith Malone, Public Affairs, kmalone@cafcp.org
Bill Elrick, Executive Director, belrick@cafcp.org