The SunLine Transit Agency in Thousand Oaks, CA will be expanding its hydrogen fuel cell test program this year with two new buses. The buses with different chassis and powertrain configurations will both use fuel cell stacks from Ballard Power Systems of Vancouver, British Columbia. The first bus has already been delivered and has the same configuration as the twenty buses that began running in Whistler, BC prior to the winter Olympics.

The second bus uses an El Dorado chassis and uses a series hybrid drive-train built by BAE Systems. The series hybrid configuration works in combination with a lithium ion battery pack that acts as a buffer for electrical energy. The battery captures energy from regenerative braking and provides transient energy needs for acceleration. The fuel cell can operate at constant output for better efficiency to keep the battery charge level up.

[Source: Ballard Power Systems]