Fuel Cell Buses

Across the globe, we continue to see good news about fuel cell electric buses (FCEBs) in North America, China, Japan and Europe.

In California, we have 21 FCEBs in operation, more than 15 years of service and more than 2.5 million miles of experience; they perform as well as any conventional bus. In the next few years, California will more than double its fuel cell bus fleet, adding 32. 

New Flyer Industries, the largest manufacturer of buses in North America, is building 25 of those 32 buses. 

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us, marking the launch of the holiday season. It also causes us to reflect on our accomplishments, individual and collective, personal and professional.

At the Fuel Cell Partnership, we wanted to express our thanks to the many individuals, organizations, and accomplishments in the hydrogen and fuel cell world that we have encountered over the past year.

Below is the list that we have compiled. We apologize for anyone or anything we’ve forgotten – so much has happened in 2017!

The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), a CaFCP member, recently recorded a second history-making event – 25,000 hours of continuous operation of a fuel cell electric bus. Just two years ago, the FCEB power plant set an international record for 20,000 hours of continuous operation.

To better demonstrate AC Transit’s trailblazing work in the proactive use of zero-emission buses for daily revenue service, a FCEB traveled to Reno, Nevada in support of the APTA 2017 Bus & Paratransit Conference. While the Bay area has a variety of microclimates and terrains, generally the weather is mild and hilly topography is gradual.

For National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day, we’ve received a lot of great photos from drivers and fans of the technology. We compiled a few of them into a collage.

National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day, October 8, will soon be upon us and the California Fuel Cell Partnership is looking to our many fuel cell electric car drivers and others to join us in celebrating.

National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day raises awareness of a clean energy technology that is here now. October 8th (10.08) refers to the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008).

4 ways to participate in National H2 Day

California has ambitious goals for growing the number of fuel cell vehicles, and most eyes are focused on the passenger car market right now. But we shouldn’t forget that fuel cell buses have a major and strategic role to play in cleaning our air and reducing greenhouse gases.

The members of the California Fuel Cell Partnership prepared the Medium-Duty and Heavy-Duty Fuel Cell Vehicle Action Plan for California to accelerate the development and commercialization of medium-and heavy-duty FCEVs in California. Federal air quality targets, AB 32 GHG reduction targets, and State’s transport electrification targets, combined with the goals of the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan, make California a favorable place to launch zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty transportation technologies.