Zero-Emission Bus Makes Palm Springs, California Splash

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Hailing it as "the wave of the future," SunLine Transit Agency officials Wednesday unveiled their new zero-emission fuel cell bus, one of four in the United States.

Hailing it as "the wave of the future," SunLine Transit Agency officials Wednesday unveiled their new zero-emission fuel cell bus, one of four in the United States.


The $3.1 million hydrogen-fueled hybrid-electric-fuel-cell bus was presented at the 2005 Fuel Cell Seminar held this week at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The 40-foot bus, which goes into service in December, emits only water vapor.


"I'm told you can drink the water from the tailpipe," C. Mikel Oglesby, SunLine's general manager, said at a news conference attended by local officials and seminar participants.


SunLine, a leader in promoting alternative fuels for public transit, switched its fleet to compressed natural gas in 1994 and began working with hydrogen five years ago. The fuel-cell bus is its first zero-emission vehicle.


"This is a historic day for all of us in transportation," said Jan van Dokkum, president of UTC Power, which designed the fuel cell. UTC Power is a unit of Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.


Rosanna Contreras, who represented Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, and state Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, commended SunLine for its commitment to keeping the air clean in the Coachella Valley.


After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, attendees and seminar participants rode the bus around the convention center's parking lot.


Dick Kelly, chairman of SunLine's board of directors, said the ride was "as smooth as glass." The other three fuel cell buses were distributed to AC Transit in Oakland.


State and federal grants paid for the buses. Funds came from the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy and the California Environmental Protection Agency, among others.


Adorned with the image of a water droplet, the three-door bus seats 30 passengers, hits a top speed of 65 mph and can travel 350 miles before refueling. The chassis' estimated life span is 12 years or 500,000 miles, the same as gasoline-powered buses, according to SunLine.


The chassis was manufactured in Belgium. In January, the bus was shipped to the United States, where the electrical drive system and fuel cell were integrated into the chassis.


SunLine received the bus Nov. 4.


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Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News


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