'The race to 0'

CityBus of Greater Lafayette received $10.5 million in grant funds last week, adding on to a past grant to total over $18 million in funding toward the company’s first zero-emission bus, powered by hydrogen.

Before the latest announcement of the funding, CityBus had already pledged that four new hydrogen fuel cell buses would be purchased, and the latest contribution from the Federal Transit Administration will help CityBus continue its pursuit of green energy.

“City buses have been on the cutting edge of alternative fuel vehicles for two decades,”said Brian Walck, manager of customer experience at CityBus. “We first started purchasing diesel-electric hybrid buses about two decades ago, and then a decade ago, we started buying compressed natural gas buses, which are low emission vehicles, and we only have one diesel bus in our fleet of about 70 vehicles. We are nearly 100% alternative fuel.”

As of 2023, the CityBus fleet was nearly 60% powered by compressed natural gas.

“We’re still in the design phase from the initial grant money, but we will have that fueling station in our facility that will allow us to fuel the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but we don’t anticipate a tremendous amount of modifications to our facility,” Walck said.

Dr. John W. Sheffield, a professor of engineering technology, has extensive experience in energy technologies, including significant contributions in furthering hydrogen energy, as he has served as editor of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy for more than 40 years.

Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water by electrolysis using excess renewable energy, like that produced by solar panels or wind turbines. Sheffield suggests that CityBus could dedicate its existing wind turbines to the production of hydrogen, although no plans of this have been confirmed.

Traditional electric buses and hydrogen buses are similar in that they both use AC traction motors and high voltage batteries. But hydrogen buses emit no harmful chemicals; the only byproduct released is water, which will drip from the equivalent of exhaust pipes, Walck said.

“The hydrogen flows into the fuel cells that generate electricity, and you’re constantly charging the batteries on board,” Sheffield said. “We can think of it as extending the range of the bus.”

On the topic of hydrogen being expensive in comparison to diesel or natural gas, Sheffield said that consumers should consider the total cost of ownership, and that the price of hydrogen will likely fall as the technology of electrolysis advances.

He says hydrogen fuel will lower costs in the long run despite a heavy price tag on the front end.

“As we expect to build out hydrogen and the chemistry of electrolysis, we expect those to further decrease. But right now, it’s an opportunity to continue the race to zero,” Sheffield said.