1. Five Generations of Hydrogen Buses at SunLine
H2 Blend & H2 Bus Demonstrations
Advanced Transportation
Technologies
Clean Transportation
Solutions SM
National Hydrogen Association
Lawrence Wnuk PhD
Senior Director, WestStart-CALSTART
San Antonio, TX
March 20, 2007

2. SunLine Transit Agency Serves California’s Coachella Valley
Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta,
Indio, and Coachella
Area > 1,100 sq mi
48 buses
23 vans
& shuttles
SunLine has been operating its entire fleet and support vehicles on CNG since May SunLine has remained fully committed to operating its fleet on alternative fuels and continues that commitment to this day with CNG and hydrogen-fueled transit buses.
The importance of the demonstration of hydrogen-fueled fuel cell and internal combustion engines is to further the development and create enough hydrogen demand to make onsite production of hydrogen cost-effective. The fuel cell technology produces only emissions of water and a small amount of waste hydrogen. The use of hydrogen in internal combustion engines significantly reduces oxides of nitrogen emissions when used alone, as in the case of the HHICE bus and when used as a blend with CNG.
Infrastructure and Facilities
Fueling facilities at SunLine include private and public access for CNG, liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed hydrogen, and a blend of hydrogen and CNG. SunLine has hydrogen production on site from a HyRadix natural gas reformer. When SunLine first began testing
SunLine Routes – SunLine operates 12 fixed routes in the Coachella Valley along State Highway 111 and Interstate 10. Bus service averages 13.4 mph during the week and 12.7 mph on the weekend to give a weekly average of 13.2 mph. The fuel cell bus has been used on Line 50 and Line 111. The HHICE bus has been used almost exclusively on Line 50. The CNG buses in this evaluation have been used randomly on all routes/lines from the Thousand Palms operation.
SunLine is a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) created by its nine member cities as well as the county (Riverside). Each member city and the county have an appointed member on the SunLine board.
320,000 residents
4,000,000 tourists

3. Hydrogen and SunLine Transit Vision: Alternative Fuels as Bridge to Hydrogen
1992 SunLine Board seeking to preserve Air Quality in Coachella Valley
Votes to transition Fleet to alternative fuels
1994 Alternative Fuels
Full CNG Fleet
Air Quality Benefits
Bridge to Hydrogen
2000 On-Site H2
H2 Blend (Hythane®)
Step to Future Zero Emission Fleet
File: 2001 Oct ah.pdf
“SunLine Transit Agency: Hydrogen Commercialization for the 21st Century”, William L. Clapper, Jr.: SunLine Transit Agency – Created 10/9/2001
File: SunLine Transit Agency – Hythane hydrogen Bus Experience.pdf
SunLine Transit Agency “SunLine Transit Agency Hythane®--Hydrogen Bus Experience Presented to Natural Gas Vehicle Technology Forum Dallas, Texas, January, 2003

4. Hythane® Bus Program 2000 Two Hythane® fueled buses in revenue service
Hythane® Blend - 20% H2 & 80% NG (Volume)
Program Results
No engine issues
Fuel consumption
equivalent to CNG
Improved engine &
throttle response
45% less NOx
Hythane® fuel cost ~ a 20% premium over CNG
File: 2003 May 65_sunline_john_williams.pdf
SunLine Transit Agency Department of Energy Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Berkeley, California May 19-22, 2003
NOx (50%+ on newer engine platforms)
Justification for the development of a hydrogen infrastructure at transit facilities
HCNG can be a bridge to hydrogen!
Hythane®fuel cost represents a 20% premium over CNG
(CNG at $1.50 per gge and hydrogen at $3 per gge)

5. Early Results of Hydrogen Enrichment Service Testing
CNG Engine Conversions – Positive Results
CNG engines run very well on HCNG blends consisting of 20% hydrogen with changes limited to engine calibration
HCNG blend engines provide a demand for hydrogen
Internal combustion engines may provide a platform for 100% hydrogen use
Internal combustion engines on Hydrogen Blends
HCNG and hydrogen fueled ICE hybrids may provide a bridge to fuel cell technology
There is a need for a consensus on comprehensive R&D on HCNG and H2 ICE hybrids
Can justify the development of a hydrogen infrastructure, and test various technologies
Provides emissions benefits – SI lean burn engines can be calibrated for 50% lower NOx with only 20%vol
Reference file: 2003 May 65_sunline_john_williams.pdf

6. EXCELLSiS (Ballard) Zero Emission ZEBus
August 2000
First Zero Emission Bus
13 month Demo Program
Accumulated 14,900 miles
(24,000 km )
Total FC run time 865 hours
FC Engine – 205 kW, direct electric drive
H2 Storage – 3,600 psig, 41.3 kg
Battery pack – none and no regenerative braking
Fuel Economy – 4.96 miles/kg average
Range – 225 miles, estimated

7. Thor/ISE 30’ FC Hybrid Nov 2002 to Feb 2003 Accumulated 8,800 miles
First Fuel Cell Hybrid Bus
Accumulated 8,800 miles
(14,000 km )
Total FC run time 640 hrs
FC – 60 kW, Hybrid-Drive
H2 Storage – 3,600 psig, 25 kg
Battery pack – VDC PbA, regenerative braking
Fuel Economy – 5.92 miles/kg average
Range – 175 to 200 miles

8. SunLine CWI Engine - HCNG Demo
Cummins-Westport Innovations
July 2003
Delivered engine
Accumulated 65,000 miles
2 HCNG buses
CWI 230HP, 500 lb-ft
5.9L SI lean-burn B Gas Plus
Modified for HCNG fuel
Fuel blend 20% H2/ 80% CNG
Match NG ICE performance
Transient emissions testing
NOx & NMHC reduced ~50%
CO2 reduced by 7%.

9. Hybrid H2 Internal Combustion Engine (HHICE) Bus
Dec 2004 to Present
First HICE Hybrid Bus
Accumulated miles
> 50,000 miles (80,000 km )
Ford 6.8 L V10 ICE, 190 hp
ISE/Siemens Hybrid-Drive
H2 Storage – 5,000 psig, 58 kg
Energy Storage – Maxwell ultracapacitors, two packs, total energy stored is 0.6 kWh max
Fuel Economy – 4.29 miles/kg average
Canadian winter test, emissions testing
Range – miles
Purchased for $1.2 million, the HHICE bus from New Flyer has essentially the same electric hybrid drive system from ISE Corp., but with ultracapacitors for energy storage and a Ford V10 Triton engine customized to operate on hydrogen fuel.
Specific Experience HHICE Bus – This bus is currently a one-of-a-kind application. It was developed in 2004 and delivered to SunLine for operation in December The HHICE bus did not stay long at SunLine before it was shipped to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for winter/cold weather testing. The HHICE bus was away from SunLine from approximately January 16, 2005 through April 20, 2005 before resuming operation at SunLine in May The bus was test-driven in Canada during February and March 2005 on a regular Winnipeg Transit route. In later operation at SunLine, the HHICE bus engine experienced significant failure of components during October and November This failure was caused by an incorrectly installed crankshaft damper. A new engine was installed into the HHICE bus in December The bus resumed revenue service later that month. The evaluation results presented in this report are focused on the operation of the newer engine.

10. Commercialization of Fuel Cells for Public Transit
SunLine collaboration with AC Transit
UTC-ISE-Van Hool Fuel Cell bus
Dec 2005 placed most advanced Fuel Cell Bus in daily service
Rigorous operations providing data to UTC Power to develop the Next Generation hi reliability fuel cell for public transit

11. Van Hool FC Bus at SunLine
Accumulated >30,000 miles
(48,000 km ) on vehicle
to date
UTC FC – 120 kW PureMotion™
Hybrid-Drive – ISE System
H2 Storage – 5,000 psig, 50 kg
Battery pack – ZEBRA® 53 kWh, regenerative braking
Fuel Economy – 7.33 miles/kg SunLine
Range – 300 to 350 miles
Purchased for $3.1 million and manufactured by Van Hool and ISE Corp., the fuel cell bus features an electric hybrid drive system with a UTC Power PureMotionTM 120 Fuel Cell Power System and ZEBRA batteries for energy storage. Purchased for $1.2 million,

12. Thor/ISE FC Hybrid Upgrade
Upgrade Plans
Replace fuel cell with a new design 75 kW Ballard with extended warranty (12,000 hours or 5 years)
Li-ion battery pack to replace PbA pack
5000 psi hydrogen storage system to replace 3,600 psi
Rapid Upgrade
Place in Revenue Service
After initial verification tests

13. American Fuel Cell Bus (AFCB) Program
FTA NFCBP Award Development
New purpose design fuel cell bus
North American chassis
Lightweight bus body/chassis design for H2 fuel components
U.S. sourced drive components
Latest-generation U.S. sourced fuel cell
New power electronics and advanced energy storage
Unique hi-efficiency accessory electronics
Vehicle demo in a very hot climate
Partners - SunLine, ISE, New Flyer, UTC Power
Latest generation New Flyer 40-foot bus design.
Full Size Fuel Cell Hybrid Drive System

14. Summary Overview of Hydrogen Bus Generations02 04 06 08 10 94 96 98 00
American Fuel Cell Bus
XCELLSiS FC ZEbus
CWI HCNG
Hythane® Buses
Thor/ISE FC Hybrid Bus Upgrade
Van Hool FC Hybrid Bus
Thor/ISE FC Hybrid Bus
ISE H2 ICE Hybrid-Electric Bus
SunLine All CNG Fleet

15. Trends in ZEB Technology at SunLine – Paths Forward
Steady growth shown in
Fuel economy, efficiency, reduced emissions
On-board H2 storage, vehicle range
Durability, reliability of systems
Reduced size, weight
Improving warranty period
More in-service time

16. www.weststart.org www.calstart.org
Clean Transportation Solutions SM
Advanced Transportation Technologies SM