HYDROGEN FUEL CELL BUS EVALUATION

Global concern for the environment has been increasing throughout the last decade, and “green” technologies are being emphasized all over the world. Research and development of advanced technologies for the transportation sector has been growing at a rapid pace in an effort to reduce petroleum imports and lower emissions. Developing technologies have recently been incorporated into transit buses because of the additional space and volume that is available for packaging prototype equipment. In the late 1990s, preliminary studies on fuel cell buses were carried out by transit agencies in Chicago, IL; Vancouver, BC, Canada; and Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Although early results were promising, it was clear additional testing and evaluation was necessary before these new technologies could be successfully integrated into a transit fleet. One such evaluation is underway at SunLine Transit Agency in Thousand Palms, California on a bus equipped with a XCELLSiS Phase 4 fuel cell engine. The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is working with transit agencies and other partners to determine the test and evaluation protocols needed to advance implementation of these new technologies, as well as to document the necessary modifications to the transit agencies’ maintenance and operation infrastructure. By evaluating SunLine, an “early adopter” of the technology, NREL will develop and carry out a test plan for evaluating the fuel cell buses, the hydrogen fueling infrastructure, and maintenance facilities. This paper describes the prototype bus, fueling infrastructure, and maintenance facility at SunLine and begins the process of determining what is needed to evaluate and characterize the bus’ performance in service.