Imagine a bus that runs entirely on battery power for 3 hours then recharges in less than 10 minutes. Imagine a bus that cuts fuel costs to transit agencies from $40,000 a year to $4,000. Imagine a bus with no emissions.
That bus is the Fuel Cell Hybrid-Powered transit vehicle that visited DOT headquarters yesterday. And it shows incredible promise for a cleaner, more sustainable future.
Proterra, maker of this bus and its Battery Electric counterpart, is a small company doing big things. And when you talk to founder Dale Hill you see why--the man loves what he is doing, and he and his team are working hard to deliver the transit-ready, fuel-sipping buses America needs.
We all know that transit is a relatively green way to get where we need to go. But to take a mode like transit and make it even greener by reducing fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions, well, that's just exciting.
And that's what FTA's National Fuel Cell Bus Program (NFCBP) has helped the folks at Proterra do so successfully. Credit should also go to the Center for Transportation and the Evironment (CTE), an Atlanta-based consortium chosen by FTA to manage this project.
Why is it exciting to be in transportation right now? Because of projects like the Fuel Cell Hybrid-Powered and Battery Electric buses. Because of groups like the CTE that organize businesses, universities, and government agencies into effective public-private partnerships that make a difference.
This is terrific news. We need a lot more buses like the one in the story that generate zero emissions. The hydrogen could be produced by solar power and that would even eliminate greenhouse gas emissions generated by conventional electric company power plants to provide the electricity to charge the batteries and make the hydrogen. We need to eliminate fossel fuel burning buses, not eliminate bus routes. The word needs to get out to agencies like OCTA that hydrogen and electric powered buses cost a huge amount less to operate than fossel fuel burners do. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.
Posted by: Michael E. Bailey | October 30, 2009 at 02:45 AM