Fuel cell buses are on the road now in California. SunLine Transit (Thousand Palms/Palm Springs) and AC TransitAlameda-Contra Costa Transit (Oakland) operate hydrogen stations to fuel the buses. SunLine has the first publicly accessible hydrogen station in the US, and AC Transit currently dispenses more hydrogen than any other station.
Buses, whether they use diesel, CNGCompressed Natural Gas, hydrogen or electricity, require faster fueling than passenger vehicles. A fuel cell bus carries 40kg of hydrogen, equivalent to 40 gallons of gasoline. If you’re trying to fill 15 buses from a single dispenser in the same hour before they start their routes, then each bus needs to fill in about 5-7 minutes.
Fueling codes and standards for buses haves become increasingly important. Although standards for passenger vehicles exist—even as some continue to be developed—heavy-duty vehicle standards are just getting started. CaFCP’s Bus Team works very closely with SAESociety of Automotive Engineers International to develop Fueling Protocols for Heavy Duty Gaseous Hydrogen Surface Vehicles (SAE J2601-2).
J2601-2’s goal is to achieve “customer acceptable” fueling, meaning a full tank of hydrogen within a reasonable amount of time without exceeding the temperature, pressure and density limits of the tank, and ensuring safety for the operator. In addition, it has to be cost effective for the transit agency to buy and use the fueling equipment.
A key element in a standard is to prevent one company from owning the market for the technology. For example, a standard can’t specify using a piece of patented hardware or copyrighted software. If it did, the company that provided that piece could potentially lock up the market. Instead a standard will call for a generic approach that several companies can use to make the product.
CaFCP’s Bus Team provides the SAE working group with real-world information and data that SAE uses to develop, test and validate J-2601-2. Currently, the standard is in development and we expect it to be published in 2013.
