“Our goal is to see the world’s first fleet of fuel cell buses on BC roads by the end of 2009 to showcase BC’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the potential of hydrogen technology as an energy solution,“ said Premier Campbell. “This funding will ensure that the hydrogen highway that will run from Whistler to
The Province committed in the throne speech that a federal-provincial partnership will be investing $89 million for fuelling stations and the world’s first fleet of 20 fuelcell buses. In November, the Province dedicated an initial $10 million of that funding to the first phase of the project with a Request for Proposals that called for the development of a pre-production hydrogen fuelcell bus. BC Transit is now in contract negotiations with the top proponent for this initial bus and the subsequent production phase.
This second $45-million allocation, which comes from the federal Public Transit Capital Trust, will go toward production of the 20 hydrogen buses and to develop hydrogen fuelling stations in Whistler and Victoria. BC Transit issued a Request for Proposal last week calling for the development of the fuelling stations. The remaining $34 million of the overall funding will be used by BC Transit to operate the fleet for up to five years, bringing the total commitment to the fleet to $89 million.
The ultimate goal of the project is to demonstrate for the first time the integration of hydrogen fuelcell buses into the regular operational service of an urban transit system, allowing monitoring of operations, maintenance and fuelling over a sustained period.
“BC is a leader in hydrogen fuelcell technology and we can harness this innovative technology to achieve environmental sustainability in transportation,“ said
Premier Campbell also announced $155,000 in government funding to support the development of a new undergraduate fuelcell systems design laboratory at the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems at the
Hydrogen fuelcell-powered vehicles produce no smog-creating emissions, and no greenhouse gas emissions, and can be twice as efficient as internal combustion engines. Life cycle costs for fuelcell buses once they become commercially available are expected to be lower than existing internal combustion engine technology. These buses will reinforce
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