General Electric (NYSE: GE), Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq: BLDP) and A123 Systems have joined with the Federal Transit Administration in a $13 million research partnership to develop a lightweight, battery dominant zero emissions hybrid fuel cell bus. The research will be led by GE’s Global Research Center in Niskayuna. “Advancements in hybrid propulsion systems and battery chemistry offer tremendous promise for enabling cleaner, more affordable transportation alternatives that will reduce reliance on fossil fuels and promote a cleaner, healthier environment,” said Mark Little, Senior Vice President and Director of GE Global Research. “At Global Research, we will be leveraging nearly three decades of experience in hybrid systems and battery chemistry research to help pave the way to commercialization.”
The goal for the project is to develop a zero emissions hybrid fuel cell bus with a range of 200 miles. The focus of the partnership will be increase fuel cell life at a lower cost by reducing fuel cell power requirements and through improved energy storage technologies.
Today’s hydrogen fuel cell and electric vehicles are too expensive, and have complex infrastructures and range limitations. The research effort will attempt to reduce these costs to affordable levels.
The technologies developed for the bus may also be applied to uninterruptible power supplies, renewable energy production and many other applications. The energy storage components can further enable new products for emerging markets such as plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric grid management.
The research partnership is part of $49 million in funding announced last week by U.S. Federal Transit Administrator James Simpson under its hydrogen fuel cell bus research and development program. GE Global Research, and its industrial partners, will contribute approximately half of the $13 million in funding for the project. The Federal Transit Administration, through the Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium, will fund the other half.
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