Atlanta, December 2016

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The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced, effective immediately, all new single deck buses purchased for use in the city center will be zero-emission buses (ZEBs). London is already a world leader in the deployment of ZEBs, currently operating eight fuel cell buses and 31 battery electric buses. By the end of 2016, the city will be operating Europe's largest electric bus fleet of 73 vehicles.The Mayor's announcement was made at the International Zero Emission Bus Conference and Fuel Cell Bus Workshop (IFCBW) at London City Hall, held November 30 and December 1 and hosted by Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE). The workshop is a clean transit event where public and private sectors showcase considerations for the expansion of zero-emission bus technology. CTE hosted the event in partnership with the US Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and UK-based Element Energy, in partnership with the European Union's Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU).

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There are currently more than 200 ZEBs operating in the US. By 2018 this number will grow to nearly 600, based on published awards and sales to date. The state of California is presently considering a target goal that would require transit fleets to be entirely zero emission by 2040.

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Jack Kitowski, the Mobile Source Division Chief of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), represented the state of California at the event. He spoke on CARB's efforts to adopt ZEB regulatory requirements and presented information on their recent awards of more than $70 million in Low Carbon Transportation grant funding. This funding will go to build 25 fuel cell electric buses and 70 battery electric buses along with supporting infrastructure for 10 transit agencies throughout California."This funding is accelerating the commercialization of zero-emission technologies in transit applications, in addition to setting the stage for transferring these technologies to other heavy-duty on-road vehicles," said Mr. Kitowski, "California's vision is to transform our fleet to the cleanest emerging technologies in order to meet air quality standards and our state's overall climate change goals.

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"Driving this effort are state laws requiring that by 2020 California must reduce its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions to 1990 levels (AB32) and to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 (SB32). Furthermore, Governor Jerry Brown has issued an Executive Order requiring state agencies to take the necessary actions to ultimately reduce GHG emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.New Flyer, North America's largest bus manufacturer with nearly 50% market share, presented the company's strategy to provide parallel zero-emission product offerings: battery electric, and fuel cell electric buses on a common platform, the Xcelsior. New Flyer's 60ft articulated fuel cell electric bus model will be the first of its kind to go through the FTA's Altoona testing beginning this year, with plans to deploy this bus in service at AC Transit in 2017. CTE is working with Boston's MBTA to deploy the battery electric version of New Flyer's 60ft bus.

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David Warren, New Flyer's Director of Sustainable Transportation noted, "From an original-equipment manufacturer's standpoint, the significant advancements in battery and fuel cell technology and commercial offerings over the past five years has created tremendous opportunities to expand the practicability of zero-emission propulsion to a wide array of everyday transit bus services. We're looking forward to collaborating with other international clean-air leaders to build upon this progress."A number of US ZEB transit operators were on hand in London to share the practicalities of fleet integration and operation, including AC Transit (Oakland, CA), Foothill Transit (West Covina, CA), Orange County Transportation Authority (Orange, CA), Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (Canton, OH), and SunLine Transit (Thousand Palms, CA). The Los Angeles Mayor's Office gave a statement at the event that the city was committing to make zero-emissions buses 20% of their fleet purchases in 2017. More than 250 people from 22 countries attended the event. The event was unique in the strength of representation across all four primary zero emission bus stakeholder groups: transit operators, industry, government, and consultancy/research.

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"CTE is proud to bring together the network of key players to explore the short and long-term pathways towards ZEB commercialization," said Lauren Justice, Project Manager with CTE and ZEB Conference coordinator, "The breadth and depth of the information discussed illustrated confidence in the sector." CTE is presently involved in 25 battery electric and fuel cell electric bus projects as technical project lead or consultant to deploy more than 100 zero emission buses.

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This is the 10th Edition of the IFCBW, continuing efforts begun in 2003 by the US Department of Transportation, US Department of Energy, and the European CUTE/HyFLEET CUTE programs. CTE and Element Energy have begun making plans for the next International Zero Emission Bus Conference to be held in mid-2018.