Who Makes Fuel Cell Buses

fuel cell buses

 

who's making fuel cell buses?

 

The following is a list of fuel cell manufacturers who produce fuel cells for bus applications. These fuel cell companies have partnered with various bus companies, system integrators, and public entities to demonstrate fuel cell buses.

Courtesy UTC Fuel Cells

UTC Fuel Cells

United Technologies Corporation, based in Connecticut, has developed fuel cells for commercial, transportation, residential and space applications. UTC is currently focusing on development of ambient pressure PEM fuel cell technology for automotive and bus applications. According to UTC, the ambient pressure technology is more energy efficient, smaller and lighter than traditional pressurized fuel cell systems.

UTC has engaged in the following efforts to develop fuel cells for bus applications:

California demonstrations: In October 2002, SunLine Transit of Thousand Palms, California, began testing a 30-foot hybrid fuel cell bus built by ThunderPower LLC, a joint venture between Thor Industries, the largest maker of mid-size buses in the United States, and ISE Research, developer of electric, hybrid-electric, and fuel cell vehicle technologies, primarily for heavy duty vehicles such as buses, trucks, and tractors. UTC's Series 300 PEM fuel cell was integrated into the the hybrid drive system. The bus is being run in revenue service to give program partners an opportunity to test this advanced fuel cell technology in real-world operations.

UTC is also teaming with Thor Industries and ISE Research to develop four full-size fuel cell buses for demonstrations at AC Transit and SunLine Transit; these demonstrations will be conducted as part of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. The buses are scheduled to be delivered in September 2005. They will be equipped with hybrid fuel cell systems, integrated by ISE Research, which will utilize a 170-kilowatt cell from UTC and Zebra nickel sodium chloride batteries to provide acceleration and hill-climbing power and to store energy from regenerative braking. Van Hool of Belgium will build three 40-foot bus bodies for AC Transit, while SunLine Transit will contract with North American Bus Industries (NABI) to build a 45-foot composite bus body for the SunLine bus.

IrisBus: UTC has teamed with Irisbus, one of the largest European bus manufacturers, to build a 60-kW fuel cell powered transit bus, with testing in the Italian city of Turin scheduled to begin in 2003.

Georgetown Bus Gen. II: In 1998, UTC integrated a 100-kilowatt phosphoric acid fuel cell system into a full-sized bus from NovaBus. The specifications for this program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, called for the bus to use a hybrid fuel cell system and operate on hydrogen reformed onboard from liquid methanol. The fuel cell is the primary energy source, and traction batteries provide surge power and a means to recover braking energy by regeneration. The bus is operated as a student shuttle service on the Georgetown campus, and is now being run by the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) in a one-year demonstration project.

 

 

Courtesy Ballard Power Systems

Ballard Power Systems/XCELLSIS

Ballard Power Systems, based in Canada, makes PEM fuel cell technology for transportation, stationary and portable applications. XCELLSIS is a joint venture of Ballard, DaimlerChrysler and Ford, that is responsible for developing, manufacturing, and commercializing fuel cell engines for transportation applications: buses, cars, and trucks.

Ballard has provided the fuel cell technology for a number of prototype buses used in demonstrations and is planning several new demonstrations:

Citaro Fuel Cell Bus: Ballard will supply the fuel cell bus engines for the 30 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses to be used in the European fuel cell bus project. These buses are scheduled to be delivered to 10 European cities beginning in 2003; the first bus was delivered to Madrid in May, 2003. Ballard is providing its 205 kW stack, and the buses will use compressed hydrogen storage.

Santa Clara VTA: Ballard has partnered with Gillig to develop three fuel cell buses for demonstration at the Santa Clara transit agency, beginning in 2004.

Munich: Ballard has partnered with MAN To develop a 40-foot fuel cell bus for demonstration at the Munich Airport, beginning in 2004.

Georgetown Bus Gen. II: In December, 2001, Georgetown University introduced a fuel cell bus, using a 100 kW PEM fuel cell supplied by Ballard in a 40-foot bus provided by NovaBUS. The hydrogen was provided by onboard methanol reformation. Traction batteries provided surge power and store energy recovered by regenerative braking.

Zebus: Powered by a 205 kW fuel cell stack and fueled with compressed hydrogen, the 40-foot Zebus was introduced in September 1999 and was demonstrated for one year at SunLine Transit in Thousand Palms, California as part of the California Fuel Cell Partnership.

P3 Bus : Between 1998 and 2000, six P3 buses powered by Ballard's 205kW fuel cells were placed into revenue service in test programs in Chicago and Vancouver. In total, the six buses logged over 73,000 miles. These buses used compressed hydrogen storage tanks.

NEBUS: In 1997, Daimler Chrysler introduced the "New Electric Bus", powered by a 205kW PEM fuel cell stack from Ballard. This bus used compressed hydrogen storage tanks.

Hydrogenics

Canadian fuel cell company Hydrogenics has committed to partner with New Flyer to develop a 40-foot fuel cell bus for demonstration and testing in Winnipeg, Canada in 2004 and 2005. Natural Resources Canada is spearheading this three-year project, whose partners also include Dynetek Industries, ISE Research and Maxwell Technologies.

DeNora

DeNora, based in Italy, supplied a 40 kW PEM fuel cell stack to Neoplan for a prototype shuttle bus launched in October 1999. The bus is equipped with a battery to provide total power of 150 kW, and fueled with compressed hydrogen.

Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH

Neoplan and Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH, based in Germany, displayed a hybrid PEM fuel cell bus at Munich's "Fuel Cell Day" in May 2000. The bus contained a 80 kW PEM fuel cell system. Extra energy for acceleration and hill climb was provided by a 100 kW flywheel system.

Hino Motors

Hino, based in Japan, manufactures diesel trucks, buses and industrial diesel engines. Toyota Motor Corporation has a 50.1% stake in the company. In the summer of 2001 Hino announced that it had developed a fuel cell powered bus, the FCHV-BUS1, in conjunction with Toyota. The prototype has a range of 186 miles and can reach a top speed of 50 mph. The propulsion system includes secondary batteries to recover and store energy from braking. The bus is powered by hydrogen stored in roof-mounted high pressure tanks. In August 2003, the bus was placed into regular service by the Tokyo Metropolitan Transportation Service.

Courtesy Electric Fuel Corporation

Electric Fuel Corporation

Electric Fuel Corporation, based in Israel, produces a zinc-air device the company characterizes as a zinc fuel cell. It works both like a fuel cell and like a battery. Like a fuel cell, the oxidizer is fed from the outside, but the fuel (zinc) is built in like a battery.

During the summer of 2001, Electric Fuel's zinc-air transit bus completed performance testing at test sites in New York State as part of a project funded by the Federal Transit Administration.

This was Phase II of a program was initiated in late 1998 to demonstrate the ability of Electric Fuel's zinc-air fuel cell system to power a full-size, all-electric transit bus, providing a full day's range including air-conditioning for heavy-duty city and suburban routes, under all weather conditions. The bus is a standard 40-foot transit bus manufactured by nova's Corporation. It used an all-electric, battery/battery hybrid propulsion system. The all-electric hybrid system consists of a main power source, an Electric Fuel zinc-air battery, and an auxiliary power source (battery).

In November 2001, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) arranged on-road demonstration drives in Las Vegas. In addition, test-track drives in Schenectady (as well as other locations in upstate NY) took place in summer 2001.

Back to main fuel cell bus page
 

 

P.O. Box 52150, Boston, MA 02205 Phone: (617) 482-1770