bitfriend6 t1_ixg4o3v wrote on November 23, 2022 at 4:35 AM

FWIW the buses are manufactured by Mantobia-based New Flyer. If LA Metro can prove this can work for transit, it will only be natural to mandate it for commercial trucks too.

epocson t1_ixg7u5a wrote on November 23, 2022 at 5:06 AM

Mandating hydrogen powered anything is difficult right now. The infrastructure for transit and storage of hydrogen for fuel isn’t there yet. Definitely where the industry is going through. Engine manufacturers are buying up hydrogen fuel companies like hot cakes.

navigationallyaided t1_ixif9l1 wrote on November 23, 2022 at 5:58 PM

I think FCEVs are only viable for buses and aviation. Toyota and Hyundai put a gamble on FCEV cars - but that is so far a flop without the backing of Big Oil. Toyota’s reasoning was to protect the Japanese auto industry from Korea(Hyundai-Kia) and China(BYD and Geely) and they laughed off Tesla. It’s too difficult to have infrastructure for retail gaseous fuels - only Australia, Japan and Hong Kong have that down with LPG(autogas) and CNG. CNG/LNG/LPG tanks in cars, trucks and buses are condemned after 10 years of service - typically a compressed gas tank(like a scuba/fire/CO2 tank) needs to be hydrostatically tested and certified every 5 years.

The problem with burning hydrogen - the NOx emissions are higher than burning fossil fuels. In a gasoline or diesel engine, that can be mitigated with exhaust gas recirculation and selective catalytic reduction(used with EGR on diesel engines, Mercedes/Daimler Truck & Bus calls it Bluetec) but CO/PM/HC emissions are much lower.

navigationallyaided t1_ixgja5c wrote on November 23, 2022 at 7:17 AM

AC Transit in Oakland, CA has a fleet of FCEV buses, the first series has been retired but they have a second generation using fuel cells from United Technologies on VanHool chassis, and a new “third” generation bus built by New Flyer with Ballard fuel cells and Siemens electric drives. They are collecting data and finding out the reliability of these buses is nearing diesel and actually better than their fleet of hybrid buses using BAE Systems propulsion with a Cummins 7-liter class engine(think Dodge Ram).

I think Toyota is testing out with the Port of LA/Long Beach FCEV trucks. Believe they are Peterbilt gliders with Toyota FC stacks from a Mirai.