Ballard Power Systems announced that the pre-production fuel cell bus, manufactured by the New Flyer Industries Canada ULC, ISE Corp. and Ballard consortium, successfully completed its field trial and is now authorized for manufacture of 20 fuel cell buses for BC Transit's hydrogen fuel cell demonstration fleet.

Ballard will begin delivery of its HD6 fuel cell bus modules in December 2008 with the remaining modules delivered through mid-2009. This is the first time that Ballard's bus fuel cell products have been integrated into a hybrid drive.

During the evaluation period, the pre-production bus operated up to 16 hours per day in Victoria and Whistler, and accumulated more than 575 hours of on-road testing. The fuel cell buses have a driving range of approximately 279 miles along with an electrical efficiency of 57 percent at rated power, more than double the efficiency of an internal combustion engine.

These buses will be delivered to BC Transit by the end of 2009 and will be in use during and after the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in the Resort Municipality of Whistler. The BC Transit fleet of 20 buses will be the largest fleet of fuel cell buses in the world.