New Flyer's hydrogen fuel-cell bus hits 350 miles without recharging

New Flyer of America Inc. announced a test demonstration for the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) achieved 350-miles of zero-emission range with a New Flyer 40-foot, heavy-duty fuel cell-electric Xcelsior CHARGE H2™ bus. These results exceeded the 300-mile range performance target by 17 percent without refueling.

The 40-foot Xcelsior CHARGE H2™ was equipped with a Ballard Power Systems fuel cell, producing electricity in motion to continuously recharge the 100 kWh of batteries to power a Siemens electric drive motor. The bus operated for 28 hours and achieved 10.4 miles per diesel gallon equivalent. When the hydrogen tanks were fully depleted, the zero-emission bus (ZEB) operated on battery reserve for an additional 20 miles, to achieve a combined range of 350 miles. The demonstration was completed on OCTA’s Route 47 operating from Fullerton to Newport Beach in April 2019 with a payload representing fully-seated passenger capacity.

As announced April 2018, New Flyer is delivering 10 40-foot fuel cell-electric Xcelsior CHARGE H2™ buses to OCTA, along with 10 of the same model to the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District under the Fuel Cell Electric Bus Commercialization Consortium Project, funded by the California Air Resources Board and its California Climate Investments Program (CCI). CCI is a statewide program putting cap-and-trade dollars toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment. CTE is a non-profit organization helping transit agencies and bus manufacturers to develop and deploy zero-emission, fuel cell electric, and battery-electric transit buses.

New Flyer manufactures the Xcelsior CHARGE H2™ in 40-foot and 60-foot lengths. In March 2019, New Flyer announced that both had successfully completed the Federal Transit Administration Model Bus Testing Program at Altoona, Pennsylvania. The Xcelsior CHARGE H2™ utilizes the same reliable drive system as New Flyer’s Xcelsior CHARGE™ all-battery electric bus.