Ballard Power Systems and XCELLSIS Fuel Cell Engines shipped the first bus powered by the pre-commercial fuel cell engine to the SunLine Transit Agency in Palm Springs, CA. 

The first "real" demonstration vehicle using modern fuel cell technology was a 32-foot bus rolled out in 1993 by Ballard.

Technical Intelligence Profile: Fuel Cells: Ballard Power Systems Data Supplement The Hydrogen Economy: The Creation of the World-Wide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power on Earth

" From time to time there has been concern that the electric trolleybus system operated in Vancouver would be abandoned. These concerns recently reached a new high when over-enthusiasm for the Ballard fuel cell bus led to a pervasive perception that the trolley system would soon be on its way out " ..Read More

• May2003 First Ballard-cell-powered Mercedes-Benz test bus hits the road in Madrid <Canoe news
• May 2003 German Bus Maker and Ballard Plan Fuel Cell Bus
• August 2002 Ballard Receives FC Bus Engine Order for California <EV World

1996 Vancouver trolleybus status report

Citaro Fuel Cell Bus,
Hydrogen, 205 kW
Ballard will begin delivery of fuel cell bus engines in late 2002, for the 30 Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses to be used in the European Fuel Cell Bus Project. These buses will be delivered to 10 European cities beginning in 2003 as the European Union leads the way in the adoption of zero-emission fuel cell technology.

ZEbus, Hydrogen, 205 kW
In September 1999, the ZEbus, powered by a pre-commercial zero-emission Ballard^® fuel cell bus engine, was rolled out at the International Public Transportation Exposition in Orlando, Florida. The ZEbus was demonstrated with the SunLine Transit Agency for a one-year period in Thousand Palms, California as part of the California Fuel Cell Partnership.

P3 Bus, Hydrogen, 205 kW
Three local buses in Chicago, USA and three local buses in Vancouver, Canada using Ballard^® fuel cell engines proved their efficiency in everyday operation during two separate two-year test programs. Collectively, these six buses traveled over 118,000 kilometers (73,000 miles) in revenue service and over 200,000 passengers had an opportunity to experience the benefits of fuel cell technology.

Nebus, Hydrogen, 205 kW
The DaimlerChrysler "New Electric Bus", impressively demonstrated the possibilities of Ballard^® fuel cells in the heavy-duty sector

DaimlerChrysler

Hino Motors, Ltd

Renault V.I. and Iveco  began road testing a 60 kW hydrogen fuel cell bus in the Northern Italian city of Torino in June of 2001. The project is dually financed by the private and public sectors, and depending on results, might lead to the purchase of more zero-emission vehicles .

RENAULT/IVECO BUS AND COACH VENTURE APPROVED.

 

SunLine Services Group, in the city of Palm Desert, operates a fleet of fuel cell vehicles, and is the site of a hydrogen dispensing station. They are operating a Stuart Energy Hydrogen Station for vehicle fueling that dispenses both pure hydrogen as well as a blend of hydrogen and natural gas.

Over the next two years, the fleet will include two hythane (mix of compressed natural gas and hydrogen) buses and one PEM fuel cell bus. SunLine will also be working with Coval H2 to convert an electric transit bus to a hybrid with the installation of a PEM fuel cell as a range extender.

Relative Links From U.S. Dept of Energy The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs (download Acrobat Reader). ThunderPower Bus Evaluation at SunLine Transit Agency (PDF 1.26 MB) SunLine Test Drives Hydrogen Bus (PDF 261 KB) Final Report on the Federal Transit Administration, SunLine Transit Agency Cooperative Agreement (Ballard P4 Fuel Cell Bus) Part One (Project Summary) (PDF 1.0 MB) Part Two (Technical Project Reports) (PDF 1.8 MB) AC Transit of Oakland and SunLine Transit of Thousand Palms Fuel Cell Development—Zero-Emission Bus Program (PDF 194 KB)