The first hydrogen-powered public bus in Los Angeles County will go into service early next month, a historic milestone that will unleash an army of similar, zero-emission buses that don’t connect to the power grid and run longer without refueling.
Foothill Transit technical instructor Homer Atwood, right, speaks with mechanics about the workings of a hydrogen-powered transit bus engine in Pomona on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Three of the hydrogen-powered buses will go into service next month with another 30 expected to be up and running next year.
Passengers will notice a quieter ride but the buses look exactly the same size as most of its fleet, about 40-feet long and seat 36 passengers. The sides of these clean-energy buses are painted with colorful nature scenes, including one with sea creatures and another depicting the iconic mountains and waterfalls of Yosemite National Park, all with the words: “Zero emissions: Hydrogen Fuel Cell.
Hydrogen fuel-cell buses line up in Santa Ana facility of OCTA. The Orange County Transportation Authority is the first to operate hydrogen-powered buses in Southern California .received $9.3 million in federal funding to combat climate change and reduce air pollution, said Rep. Pete Aguilar on Nov. 16 in a prepared statement. The money will be used to buy four hydrogen fuel cell buses.
Hydrogen fuel-cell buses don’t need to stop mid service for refueling, as do battery-electric buses, he added. Foothill transit is putting in place a 25,000-gallon hydrogen fuel tank and refueling system at its Pomona facility, where buses can easily refill, just as they do now for CNG fuel. The tank may be the largest in Southern California for a transit agency, surpassing OCTA’s 18,000-gallon tank.A hydrogen fuel-cell bus is also an electric bus, only it does not plug in. It has lithium ion batteries that are constantly charged from a hydrogen fuel cell. In other words, it makes its own power.
“There are your parking brakes, your mirrors. There are your high-beams,” explained instructor Mark Marquez to driver Refugio Dimas, pointing out each one. Dimas was sitting in the driver’s seat and getting ready to take the hydrogen bus out for a practice ride on Tuesday, Nov. 15.