Plug-In Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Has 6 Minute Recharge Time
Burbank — the only city in Los Angeles County named after a Dentist (thank you Wikipedia!) — can now claim that it’s more than just the “media capital of the world.” They’ve been chosen as one of only two test markets in the US for the introduction of a zero-emissions, ultra-quiet, plug-in hybrid electric hydrogen fuel cell bus. And here’s the clincher: it can recharge its batteries in just six minutes.
- » See also: Copenhagen Opens First Hydrogen Fueling Station, Unveils Fleet of Fuel Cell Cars
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The prototype bus is being designed and manufactured by Colorado-based Proterra. It can travel 250 miles before needing to be recharged, runs at double the fuel economy of a diesel bus, and emits nothing but water vapor from its tailpipes. The bus will be officially unveiled in a spring 2009 ceremony and then go into immediate service on the BurbankBus network.
The vehicle operates in a similar fashion to other plug-in hybrids, such as the upcoming Chevy Volt, but instead of having a gas- or diesel-powered engine to extend the range of one charge, the Proterra bus uses hydrogen fuel cells. The fuel cells are fed from tanks located on the vehicle’s roof, and transform hydrogen and oxygen into water vapor and electricity to charge the batteries.
The fast charge batteries, provided by the Hydrogenics Corporation, are made of lithium titanate — and it’s simply amazing that they can be recharged in 6 minutes. By the time the bus driver finishes his soy chai latte, the bus’ll be good to go again.
With a capacity of 37 people sitting and 30 people standing — even while cutting 5 feet off the length of a typical municipal bus — this is no wanna-be bus. In a conventional bus, those 5 feet are taken up with a bulky diesel engine and assorted accouterments. Besides being 5 feet shorter, the bus also saves on weight due to construction from lightweight composites.
At a cool $2 million, you won’t be seeing RV versions of these things any time soon. But these are prototypes, and most of that $2 million cost is being picked up by a $1.3 million state grant from the California Alternative Fuel Incentive Program.
Even so, the price tag seems a but humorous to me considering that, on their front page, Proterra boasts, “Finally, vehicles that are friendly to both your budget and the environment.” Oh yeah, they also scream “12 YEAR LEASE FINANCING AVAILABLE WITH NO DOWN PAYMENT” on the bottom of their products web page. LOL!
And if you can say “plug-in hybrid electric hydrogen fuel cell bus” 10 times fast without getting tongue-tied, you get a gold star! It seems that as the technology for these things advances, our ability to name them gets worse and worse.
Source: BurbankBus
Image Credit: Proterra
Nice post Nick, now when will Albany buy one so my commute to OSU won’t suck so bad. But does it come with a built in chai soy latte dispenser?
John,
Thanks! But I’m afraid it’ll be a cold day in hell before Albany is that forward thinking
The soy chai latte is extra.
It’s curious to me that it’s a HYBRID of electric and fuel cell and that the article highlights the speed at which the battery is charged. I thought the fuel cell was a means of combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity - so why do the batteries need special charging? They’re supposedly being recharged continuously by the fuel cell. Or? Are there two completely separate systems - one using the fuel cell to directly drive the bus, and one independent battery-powered system that kicks in when the fuel cell can’t deliver. Whatever, there’s something peculiar here.
Mona,
If you think about it as either a straight hydrogen fuel cell vehicle or a straight electric vehicle, it seems weird. But that’s not what this is. As I said in the post, it works the same way that other plug-in hybrids work, like the Chevy Volt, only it uses hydrogen fuel cells to extend the range instead of a gas engine.
So, it can go a certain distance on just electricity alone, then after that it uses the hydrogen fuel cells to supplement battery power.
That’s why the battery charge time is highlighted. A 6 minute recharge time is amazing. That’s what these new lithium titanate batteries are known for and why many people think they represent the next generation of battery for vehicles.
This is a great example of how tax dollars can subsidize new technology in the prototype phase. It’s through such efforts that new approaches to solving complex problems can be vetted.
If were up to “free markets” alone it could take decades for such ideas to be tested properly, and by then the situation we’re in would be much worse.
We do need to be careful that such policies don’t become a long term “revenue” stream in the marketplace, but rather a way to shorten the time line for creation of advanced solutions.
I wonder how many cycles they get out of the batteries?
Nice bus,
but check out the all electric bus scheduled to be demonstrated in the spring of next year…..
based on the CNT battery a lead acid battery modified with carbon nanotubes and a new electrolyte that supposedly increases the battery capacity by 800 percent and decreases the recharge time to 10 minutes…..and increases the lifetime by 4 times…..
The battery will be manufactured by Micro bubble technologies and will also be used in the new electric vehicle THE Current manuf. by Electric city motors in parker colorado.
Damn my comment got lost because I mistyped my e-mail. What I wanted to say is this: WHY do they have to make this buses look like they’ve been inflated to 200psi? People don’t want to buy an inflatable bus driving on diesel, so why would they want one driving on electricity? This http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc209/koopmans_2007/02-11-2007042.jpg is a nice bus, not these socalled ‘futuristic’ (read inflatable) buses. But nice post, thumbs up.
Me, Myself, nor I: Matter of taste. I find the bus you presented to be a mix of modern technology with old-fashioned, blank expanses of flat panel and no imagination. While the bus in this article isn’t the coolest I’ve seen or could imagine, I personally find it much more attractive than your preference.
Anyway, very cool concept, and the charge time is impressive. I assume they’re using some sort of connection way beyond what we’ll see in our garages any time this decade to provide that much power that fast. But the time makes sense from the perspective of WHERE it would be charged. Surely it’s hooked up at the main bus depot, and their stops are usually for about 10-15 minutes. So while passengers are transferring and the driver’s taking his/her break (although I don’t know any bus drivers who can afford soy chai lattes), the bus is re-charged.
My question, though, is how far can it go on a charge? Can they manage to avoid re-fueling on a lot of their routes? And how long does it take to fill up a fuel cell bus at those stops?
Would be nice if more details were provided, e.g., the voltage required to charge the (what capacity?) batteries so quickly, the size of the fuel cell, the basis for the 250-mile range claim. I visited Proterra’s website, but there’s not much there (looks like patents are pending… C’mon, Proterra, surely you can put a white paper out there… Inquiring minds want to know). Oh well, such pesky details were never required to fire the fantasy of the alternative-fuel advocates.
The only reason I’m not dismissing this all as pie-in-the-sky BS is that Proterra put together the fleet of CNG/electric hybrid buses for Denver’s 16th Street Mall. I hope they pull it off.