Hydrogen Buses

Hydrogen buses, though rarely discussed in popular accounts of alternative energy, are far ahead in development than other hydrogen-powered vehicles. That is in part because buses are industrial-use vehicles. The money saved through the use of hydrogen buses will pass on to the consumer but also will benefit businesses that rely on bus transportation.

Australian Hydrogen Bus Letting Off Steam

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People in Australia and Iceland have run trials of hydrogen-powered buses. The buses run from fuel cells. These cells convert hydrogen into electricity powering the buses. The change for buses is very radical because most buses still use diesel, so this move is a two-step move. The Australian bus trials in 2004 worked from a natural (unleaded) gas and hydrogen mixture. This worked best, and it showed significant improvements in gas mileage over either diesel-powered or all natural gas-powered buses.

For Iceland, Mercedes-Benz has made hydrogen buses for public transportation purposes. People are able to ride mass transit systems without the pollution and the negative effects to their own health. The hydrogen fuel cell stacks inside the bus work to create electricity and the only bi-product is water or steam, which comes out the tailpipe.

Making fuel for hydrogen buses and other hydrogen vehicles is one of the issues that manufacturers are still working to resolve. In some parts of the world, manufacturers are using power plants to produce the hydrogen fuel. While it is ultimately better for the environment, the process still requires coal to generate electricity, which is needed in the process to manufacture the hydrogen and will not help with the public's concerns about the benefits to the environment.

In other areas, however, researchers are focusing their efforts on alternative methods of making hydrogen. Using the process of electrolysis powered by solar or wind, water is split into both hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The hydrogen is collected in gas form, compressed and shipped to fueling stations that will then power the buses.

The use of these buses around the world is good news for Westerners, particularly Americans, who are concerned about the power issues related to hydrogen-powered vehicles. A bus requires much more power than cars, trucks, or even SUVs, and buses need to start and stop often. If they can run from hydrogen fuel, then the possibility of moving to all hydrogen-powered vehicles becomes more attractive.

The biggest concern right now is the cost of producing the fuel cells, which can get fairly high. That cost will be passed on to the consumer although the bus company will be saving money in the end because of the decreased cost of fuel. The use of more hydrogen-powered vehicles and advances in technology and especially manufacturing processes will eventually bring down the cost.