SunLine Transit Company Looks to H2

By Robert L. Mauro, Executive Vice President, National Hydrogen Association
On a hot July day this past summer [1999], I visited SunLine Transit Company in Thousand Palms, California [U.S.A.]. As I arrived, the thermometer read 106ºFahrenheit. Bill Clapper, Executive Director of SunLine Services Group, met with me and conducted a 45-minute tour of the outdoor facility. I know that he showed the location of new facilities for the hydrogen bus that they were to receive next February from Ballard as part of a DOE award, but what I remember was that the asphalt we were standing and walking on was really hot.

After I had driven a small hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that had been supplied by Schatz Energy Research Institute, I met in an air conditioned office with Richard Cromwell III, General Manager of SunLine Transit Agency and Bill Clapper to discuss their facility, program, and objectives. SunLine operates a fleet of natural gas vehicles that it uses in revenue service. In working with the College of the Desert, SunLine has developed a training program to certify mechanics to work on natural gas buses. All of SunLine’s mechanics have gone through this training course. Richard Cromwell believes that mechanic training is the reason why the mean time to breakdown for SunLine’s bus fleet was almost 29,000 miles of operation while the mean time for breakdown on transit systems nationally was 4,000 miles of operation.

SunLine works with College of the Desert to develop mechanic-training courses on alternate-fueled vehicles for other transit authorities. SunLine views itself as a test bed that original equipment manufacturers of transit equipment utilize for testing various future transportation systems. As a result, SunLine creates a basis for providing training to its mechanics and other transit personnel so that this equipment may be used in revenue service.

The current hydrogen activity plans to demonstrate a complete hydrogen system for buses and other vehicles. The program will initially consist of a dispensing station, a hydrogen fuel cell bus, a class eight line haul tractor with on-board reforming of a natural gas/hydrogen blend. This system should be up and running in the spring of 2000. A bay in the maintenance building has been designed to service the buses’ fuel cells. The dispensing system for hydrogen will use an electrolysis system similar to that used on the Ballard buses in Vancouver [British Columbia, Canada]. The difference is that the SunLine production and dispensing system will include storage. The power for the electrolyzer will be supplied by solar, wind, and off-peak power. The goal is to supply as much power as possible renewably. The performance of the buses will be measured by traditional transit authority measures: mean time to failure, maintenance costs and requirements, and operator evaluations.

SunLine ultimately wants to replace its natural gas vehicle fleet with a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle fleet. Toward that end, SunLine, in conjunction with the College of the Desert, is developing a hydrogen fuel cell maintenance course similar to that developed for natural gas. SunLine, in partnership with College of the Desert, participates in the introductory and advanced gaseous fuels topics courses relating to CNG, LNG, and LPG. These two 80-hour courses include a segment on codes and standards for natural gas vehicles. Richard Cromwell indicated that any hydrogen codes and standards that the NHA and ISO supply will be used and incorporated into the curriculum of the codes and standard course.

As I returned to my car to leave and looked at the 110ºF reading on the thermometer mounted on a sign next to SunLine’s facility, I thought SunLine can and will demonstrate the operation of transit buses, vans, taxis, and, ultimately, school buses on hydrogen. They can provide a real test of many types of fleet operation. I’ll return when it is cooler to see their progress on the current three-year program that shows such promise.

©1999. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of the National Hydrogen Association.
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