going green
AC Transit continues down the HyRoad
Solar-powered electrolysis highlights its newest hydrogen production and dispensing station By Clarence L. Johnson
Edited by David Hubbard
AC Transit is one of the largest transit agencies in California, serving over 60 million passengers a year throughout a 364-square mile region. AC Transit, Emeryville CA, and its coalition of regional transit and energy partners operate the latest generation of zeroemission fuel cell buses that serves the seven million people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fuel cells do not burn the fuel they use. Instead, they combine hydrogen with oxygen from the air electrochemically to produce electricity and emit only water vapor. AC Transit operates 12 Van Hool 40-ft hybrid-electric, zero-emission fuel cell buses, each powered by a 120 kW UTC Power fuel cell system and a Siemens ELFA Drive System. The agency unveiled its newest hydrogen production and dispensing station in April, in which the hydrogen is in part the result of solar-powered electrolysis. Federal, state, and local officials were on hand to formally dedicate AC Transit’s newest on-site energy station. For now, the new facility will fuel the fleet operating in AC Transit’s service area, and will expand throughout the region in the coming year.
40 June 2012
AC Transit opened its newest hydrogen fueling station at its Emeryville, CA facility.
“For over a decade AC Transit has been developing the most comprehensive, zero-emission, fuel cell transit program in North America, and operating zero-emission buses in real-world service,” says AC Transit General Manager David Armijo. “Now, with
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