Zero Emission Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus: Project Description
New England's first zero-emission fuel cell-powered hybrid bus made its debut in Connecticut on April 10, 2007. The fuel cell-powered hybrid bus project was made possible through the efforts of many people and organizations including Connecticut Transit (CTTRANSIT), the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT), the Greater Hartford Transit District (GHTD), UTC Power, AC Transit, Van Hool NV, ISE Corporation and the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG).
The bus immediately entered CTTRANSIT service and operates on the free downtown Hartford Star Shuttle route. In a few months, the fuel cell-powered bus will operate on other routes that serve the capital city and surrounding towns. This will be done to meet the project goal of testing the bus in all types of typical transit service, including low and high speeds, and routes with steep grades.
CTTRANSIT and project partners will gather and analyze data on fuel economy, maintenance costs and reliability. The many benefits of this fuel cell-powered hybrid bus include zero harmful tailpipe emissions, smooth and quiet operation and fuel efficiency that is expected to be two times better than a standard diesel-powered bus. The clean operation means it will have an immediate positive impact on street-level emissions. These benefits are reflected in the distinctive green, leafy graphics on the sides of the bus.
In addition to UTC Power and CTTRANSIT, the special project partnership includes AC Transit of Oakland, California, which now has three UTC Power fuel cell-powered buses in operation; Van Hool of Belgium, one of the world's largest bus and coach manufacturers; and ISE Corporation of Poway, California, a leading integrator of hybrid-electric and integrated fuel cell drive systems for buses. A $2.9 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to the Greater Hartford Transit District has funded the bus and infrastructure to support this and future fuel cell transportation projects in Greater Hartford.
UTC Power has provided fuel cell power plants for fleet transportation since 1998 and its fuel cells have powered buses in the United States, Spain and Italy; another new bus will soon debut in Belgium.
UTC Power and its partners are participating in three multimillion-dollar zero-emission transit bus projects in California and Washington, D.C., as part of an FTA $49 million cost-shared program. Congress established the National Fuel Cell Bus Technology Development Program in 2005 to facilitate development of commercially viable fuel cell bus technology. The FTA goal is to have fuel cell buses represent 10 percent of new U.S. transit bus purchases starting in the year 2015.
UTC Power's PureMotion fuel cell system for transit buses represents more than six years of research and development in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense through the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command and the U.S. Department of Transportation through the Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium.
Source: UTC Power, CTTRANSIT
