Fuel Cell Electric Bus Project to begin at The Ohio State University
Center for Transportation and the Environment unites technology partners for two-year bus demonstration
[Columbus, Ohio], January 5, 2012 - An alternative fuel project at The Ohio State University is officially underway with design starting on the ECOSaver Electric Fuel Cell Bus. The bus will be manufactured by DesignLine USA with funding from the U.S.Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as part of the National Fuel Cell Bus Program. The project is managed by the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE), a non-profit organization that specializes in bringing clean transportation technologies to market.
The development and demonstration of the bus, which represents state-of-the-art hydrogen fuel cell technology, is a partnership between CTE, DesignLine, Ballard Power Systems, Ohio State, The University of Texas at Austin Center for Electromechanics and the FTA. The FTA has also funded the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate the performance of the bus while it is in service at Ohio State. The results will be published at the conclusion of the demonstration.DesignLine is currently building the bus in anticipation of its introduction into OhioState's transportation fleet in mid 2012. Ohio State will operate the bus as part of itsregular fleet and collect operational data on bus efficiency and reliability. To support the demonstration and operation of the bus, Ohio State is upgrading their hydrogendispensing site and repaving their parking lots at the hydrogen site, which is located atOhio State's Center for Automotive Research.
The design of the bus will combine DesignLine's existing lightweight chassis and matureelectric drive system with an advanced Ballard Power Systems FCveI0city~HD6 fuel cell module. The demonstration at Ohio State is one of four similar fuel cell bus development and demonstration projects CTE is conducting through FTA's National Fuel Cell Bus Program. The other projects include a variety of different U.S. bus manufacturers and transit operators, with demonstrations set for Austin, Texas; Columbia, South Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; and Washington, D.C.
"The opportunity to showcase the ECOSaver Electric Fuel Cell Bus among Ohio State's transit fleet for two years is the result of a powerful public-private partnership that includes FTA, the Department of Energy, a nonprofit, two universities, a transit operator, and two major U.S. high-technology manufacturing companies. It is a model that we'd love to replicate with other partners across the United States," said Dan Raudebaugh, Executive Director, Center for Transportation and the Environment. "Ohio State's Center for Automotive Research has been involved in research and development related to the electrification of commercial vehicles for 10 years," said Giorgio Rizzoni, director of Ohio State's Center for Automotive Research. "We're excited to be a partner on this innovative project and look forward to the start of the operational demonstration next year."
About CTEThe Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3)organization based in Atlanta, Georgia that develops technologies and implements solutions to achieve energy and environmental sustainability. Since its founding in 1993, CTE has managed a portfolio of more than $225 million in federal, state, and local cost-shared research, development, and demonstration projects involving more than 200 organizations in the advanced transportation technology field. CTE has facilitated and leveraged funding for its projects and initiatives from the U.S. Departments of Defense, Energy, Interior, and Transportation, as well as from the U.S. Army and NASA, among many others.
