Accelerating New York Fuel Cell Bus & Hydrogen Infrastructure Deployments
Disadvantaged communities in the Bronx are disproportionally affected by diesel emissions which negatively affects their health. Our solution is to accelerate the adoption of Fuel Cell Electric Bus (FCEB) and hydrogen fueling station development in NYS.
Our project will provide residents in the environmental justice zones of Eastchester, Co-op City, and Bedford Park with FCEB, zero-emissions, safe, and quiet transport. Our approach will succeed as FCEBs provide longer range than Battery Electric Buses (BEB), better performance in cold weather and can be refueled much faster than batteries in 6-12mins.
The hydrogen used to fuel these buses will be 100% clean, produced from electrolysis. Our intended outcome is the reduction in toxic emissions, improving the health of Bronx residents while meeting the same operating conditions as diesel buses, measured through carbon reductions, performance, and reliability. Proving hydrogen's capability in practice will demonstrate a viable path to zero emissions at the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and across the country.
The project will demonstrate the capability of FCEB to address the most difficult challenges faced by the MTA and other large fleet operators in converting to zero-emissions vehicles. By showing that fuel-cell technology is a feasible, efficient, and cost-effective zero-emissions solution, the project will accelerate the conversion from fossil-fuel vehicles and help mitigate the negative climate and health impacts of vehicle emissions on disadvantaged communities. FCEBs offer a proven solution to the two main challenges facing the MTA and other fleet operators: range and fueling operations. FCEBs have proven ranges of 300+ miles even in harsh winter weather and operating conditions, a major improvement over the current state of BEB. FCEBs also avoid the operational challenge, space issues, power needs and high cost of electric charging infrastructure. FCEBs need only 200kw of power for a 35-bus system, can be fueled similarly to existing CNG and diesel fleets in as little as 5-10 minutes per bus from a hydrogen storage and pumping station with a relatively small footprint. Solving the range, extreme power, and fueling problem faced by the MTA and other fleet operators will remove major barriers to converting from fossil-fuel based vehicles, accelerating the conversion to zero-emissions at the MTA and beyond. By replacing just 2 diesel buses with FCEBs for 3 years, the project will avoid an estimated 600 tons of CO2 emissions in 103 disadvantaged communities, and the burning of over 50,000 gallons of diesel. By removing barriers to broader ZEB conversion those benefits will grow exponentially!