NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Technology Validation: Fuel Cell Bus Evaluations

2012 DOE Annual Merit Review

Leslie Eudy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

May 17, 2012

Project ID# TV-008

This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information

2

Overview

Budget • Pre-FY 2011 funding

− DOE share: $1.977 M (8 yr)

• FY 2011: $300K • Planned FY 2012: $300K • Additional funding from

DOT/Federal Transit Admin.

Tech. Val. Barriers A. Lack of fuel cell vehicle

performance and durability data

C. Lack of H2 fueling infrastructure performance and availability data

D. Need for maintenance and training facilities

Partners • Fleets: Operational data, fleet

experience • Manufacturers: Vehicle specs,

data, and review • Fuel providers: Fueling data and

review

Timeline • Project started in FY03 • First-generation FCEB

evaluations completed in FY10

• Second-generation FCEB evaluations began Q4 FY09

3

Objectives – Relevance

Overall: Validate fuel cell technologies in transit applications • Analyze fuel cell electric bus (FCEB) performance and cost compared to

conventional technologies to measure progress toward commercialization • Provide “lessons learned” on implementing fuel cell systems in transit

operations to address barriers to market acceptance • Harmonize data collection efforts with other FCEB demonstrations

worldwide (in coordination with FTA and other U.S. and international partners)

2012 • Document more than 10,000 FC hours and 2x fuel economy compared to

baseline technology (diesel and natural gas buses) • Continue data collection and analysis for 2nd generation fuel cell buses at

Burbank, SunLine, AC Transit • DOT/FTA collaboration – collect data on sites for National Fuel Cell Bus

Program (NFCBP) • Conduct crosscutting analysis/comparison of FCEB status at all sites

4

Milestones

• Eight 1st gen buses operated by four transit agencies were evaluated between FY05 and FY10: o Santa Clara VTA, San Jose, CA: 3 buses o AC Transit, Oakland, CA: 3 buses o SunLine, Thousand Palms, CA: 1 bus o CTTRANSIT, Hartford, CT: 1 bus

• Evaluate 2nd generation FCEBs:

* Data included in this presentation

Transit Agency Project Location No.

buses Start-up date

SunLine Adv. Tech FCEB Thousand Palms, CA 1 May 2010 *

AC Transit ZEBA Emeryville, CA 12 June 2010 *

CTTRANSIT NFCBP: Nutmeg Hartford, CT 4 Aug 2010 *

SunLine NFCBP: AFCB Thousand Palms, CA 1 Jan 2012

SFMTA NFCBP: Bus 2010 San Francisco, CA 1 Jun 2012

Cap Metro NFCBP: Proterra Austin, TX 1 April 2012

5

Evaluation Approach

Data collection & analysis at transit sites • Follows standard protocol • Uses cost-effective process with data already collected by

agency • Includes data on baseline vehicles in same service (diesel,

CNG, diesel hybrid) • Builds database of evaluations/results

Annual FCEB status report / crosscutting analysis • Includes summary of data across all sites • Crosscutting analysis comparing FCEB results from all sites • Assesses progress and needs for continued success

Expansion of data collected and analyzed as resources allow

6

U.S. FCEB Numbers Continue to Grow

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Num

ber o

f Bus

es

Early Generation Retired Early Generation Active Next Generation Active

Data being collected on increasing number of FCEBs (includes FTA NFCBP buses)

Estimate 26 active FCEBs by the end of 2012; 28 by the end of 2013

26 Active FCEBs 28

est

imat

e

7

FCEB Design Strategies FCEB

Design Strategy Advantages Disadvantages

Fuel Cell Dominant

Charge sustaining hybrid bus – FC charges batteries

- Excellent performance - No range issues - Zero-emission

- Higher cost

Battery Dominant

Charge depleting electric bus – FC acts as a range extender

- Good performance - Smaller FC is less expensive - Zero-emission

- Still needs to be plugged in for best performance - Infrastructure for two energy sources: hydrogen and electricity

Diesel Hybrid w/ FC for accessories

Charge sustaining hybrid bus – FC handles all electric accessories and some motive power

- Excellent performance - Smaller FC is less expensive - Hybrid design is commercial product

- Need to deal with two fuels - Not zero-emission

8

FCEB OEM Partners

Bus OEM Fuel Cell System

Hybrid System

Design Strategy Energy Storage Transit Agency

Van Hool 40-ft UTC Power Siemens

ELFA Fuel cell dominant

Lithium-based batteries

AC Transit, Oakland, CA; CTTRANSIT, Hartford, CT

ElDorado 40-ft Ballard BAE

Systems Fuel cell dominant

Lithium-based batteries

SunLine, Thousand Palms, CA; Chicago Transit Authority

New Flyer 40-ft Ballard Siemens

ELFA Fuel cell dominant

Lithium-based batteries

SunLine, Thousand Palms, CA

Proterra 35-ft Hydrogenics

or Ballard Proterra

integration Battery

dominant Lithium-based

batteries Capital Metro, Austin, TX

DesignLine 35-ft Ballard DesignLine integration

Battery dominant

Lithium-based batteries

University of Ohio, Columbus

Ebus 22-ft Ballard Ebus

integration Battery

dominant Nickel cadmium University of Delaware,

Newark

EVAmerica Ballard EVAmerica integration

Battery dominant

Lithium-based batteries

BJCTA, Birmingham, AL

Daimler (Orion) Hydrogenics BAE Systems

Diesel Hybrid w/ FC BAE Systems San Francisco MTA

9

Accomplishments Data Summary for 2nd Gen Buses

Data summary includes two types of fuel cell dominant, 2nd gen FCEBs at three transit sites:

• AC Transit, Oakland, CA o 40-foot Van Hool buses with UTC

Power FC

• CTTRANSIT, Hartford, CT o 40-foot Van Hool buses with UTC

Power FC

• SunLine, Thousand Palms, CA o 40-foot New Flyer bus with Ballard

FC and Bluways hybrid system

10

Performance Targets for FCEBs

Units Commercialization Target

Bus Lifetime Years / miles 12 / 500,000

Powerplant Lifetime Years / hours 6 / 25,000

Bus Use Miles per month 3,000

Bus Availability % 90

Fuel Economy Miles per diesel gallon equivalent 8

Road call frequency (All/powerplant) Miles between road call 4,000/10,000

To meet commercialization targets, FCEBs need to meet or exceed performance of baseline conventional technology: diesel, CNG Current Performance Targets*

*All performance, cost, and durability targets summarized in draft DOE/DOT record

11

Accomplishments 2nd Gen FCEB Mileage Accumulation at 1,500 miles/month

0500

1,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,000

AC Transit CTTRANSIT SunLine

Mon

thly

Mile

s

FCEB Diesel CNG

3,000 mi Target

Transit agencies are increasing the number of scheduled miles per day: Buses operating as many as 19 hours/day with some weekend service

12

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Mile

s per

die

sel g

allo

n eq

uiva

lent

ACT FCEB ACT Diesel CTT FCEB CTT Diesel CTT Hybrid SunLine FCEB SunLine CNG

Accomplishments FCEB Fuel Economy Consistently Higher than Baseline

Fuel economy is highly dependent on duty cycle: Average speed for SunLine – 13 mph; AC Transit – 9.9 mph; CTTRANSIT – 13.6 mph

13

Accomplishments 2nd Gen FCEB Designs Approach 2x Fuel Economy

• CTTRANSIT data include diesel hybrid buses in similar service as FCEBs: • FCEB – 7.78 mi/DGE • Diesel hybrid – 4.44 mpg • Standard diesel – 3.73 mpg

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

AC Transit CTTRANSIT SunLine

Mile

s per

die

sel g

allo

n eq

uiva

lent

FCEB Diesel Diesel hybrid CNG

1.86X

1.98X 2.0X

New FC bus designs have twice the fuel economy as diesel buses

14

Accomplishments 2nd Gen Average Availability at 53%

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

AC Transit

CTTRANSIT

SunLine

Fuel Cell Propulsion Hybrid Propulsion Battery Related

Bus Maintenance Fueling Unavailable

Availability = planned operation days compared to actual operation days

Average availability compared to conventional bus baseline • Lower numbers expected during the ‘break-in’ period for new design

Reasons for unavailability – percent of total by category • Not typically due to fuel cell issues • Bus maintenance issues include accident repair, AC system problems, materials compatibility • Hybrid issues primarily software related • Not seeing as many battery issues as in previous designs

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

AC Transit CTTRANSIT SunLine

Avai

labi

lity

%

FCEB Diesel CNG

85% Target

Newest data show increases in availability Feb 2012 = 62% overall 9 of 17 buses over 70%

15

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

AC Transit CTTRANSIT SunLine

Mile

s Bet

wee

n Ro

adca

ll

FCEB Diesel CNG

Accomplishments FC System MBRC* Increasing

• Still lower than target, but improving • Tends to vary widely by transit agency for any technology

Target for Propulsion System MBRC

Propulsion-system-only MBRC:

*MBRC = miles between roadcall

16

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

AC Transit CTTRANSIT SunLine

Mile

s Bet

wee

n Ro

adca

ll

FCEB Diesel CNG FCEB (FC only)

Accomplishments FC System MBRC* Increasing – 38% improvement

Target for Propulsion System MBRC

• Shows that most roadcalls are not due to fuel cell system issues • Newer design FCEBs still working through ‘break-in’ period

Fuel cell-system-only MBRC: FC System MBRC 38% improvement from 1st gen FCEBs – 8,158 miles

*MBRC = miles between roadcall

17

Bus fleet leaders - 3 FCPPs over 6,000 h

without repair or cell replacements

- Top FCPP now over 11,000 h

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Tota

l FC

hour

s

Accomplishments Top Fuel Cell Powerplant Exceeds 11,000 hours

Total hours accumulated on each FC powerplant (FCPP) as of 1/31/12

Transit application provides excellent opportunity to accumulate miles/hours faster

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

FC h

ours

18

Accomplishments OEMs on a path to reduce capital cost to < $1M • Fuel costs remain higher • Operational costs still high

$0.00

$0.50

$1.00

$1.50

$2.00

$2.50

$3.00

$3.50

Total cost per mile Propulsion System Maintenance cost

per mile

Total Maintenance cost per mile

Fuel cost per mile

AC Transit FCEB

Diesel

$0.00

$0.50

$1.00

$1.50

$2.00

$2.50

$3.00

$3.50

Total cost per mile Propulsion System Maintenance cost

per mile

Total Maintenance cost per mile

Fuel cost per mile

CTTRANSIT FCEB

Diesel

$0.00

$0.50

$1.00

$1.50

$2.00

$2.50

$3.00

$3.50

Total cost per mile Propulsion System Maintenance cost

per mile

Total Maintenance cost per mile

Fuel cost per mile

SunLine FCEB

CNG

H2: $8.00/kg Diesel: $2.67/gal

H2: $6.86/kg Diesel: $3.32/gal

H2: $8.00/kg CNG: $0.90/gge

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

Num

ber o

f pro

duct

ion

units

Cost

per

uni

t in

Mill

ions

• Capital costs: – Still higher, but coming down – Larger quantity orders should help

Projected cost reductions with increasing units

Actual Projected

$3.2 M

<$1 M

FCEB cost

FCEB numbers 6

400

Source: FCHEA Fuel Cell Electric Bus White Paper, Mar 2011

19

Collaborations

• Transit agencies provide data on buses, fleet experience, and training, and review reports o California: AC Transit, BurbankBus, Golden Gate Transit, Santa Clara VTA,

SamTrans, SunLine, San Francisco MTA o Connecticut: CTTRANSIT o South Carolina: Central Midlands RTA, USC o Alabama: Birmingham-Jefferson County o Ohio: Ohio State University o Illinois: Chicago Transit Authority

• Manufacturers provide some data on buses and review reports o Bus OEMs: Proterra, Van Hool, New Flyer, ElDorado National o FC OEMs: Ballard, Hydrogenics, UTC Power, Nuvera o Hybrid system OEMs: BAE Systems, Bluways, GE, Van Hool

• Other organizations share information and data o National: CARB, NAVC, CTE, CALSTART o International: Various organizations from Germany, Iceland, Brazil, Canada,

China, Japan, England, Australia

20

2010 2011 2012 20131 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

AC Trans it / S F B ay Area C A 12 ZE B A Demo

S unLine / Thousand P alms C A 1 Advanced FC B Project

C ity of B urbank / B urbank C A 1 B urbank FC B

S unLine / Thousand P alms C A 1 American FC B Demo

C TTR ANS IT / Hartford C T 4 Nutmeg Hybrid FC B DemoUS C , C MR TA / C olumbia UT , C ap Metro / Aus tin

S C TX

1 Hybrid FC B Demo S ite 2

Logan Airport / B oston MA 1 MA H2 FC B

Newark / DE DE 1 Light-wt FC B

S F MTA / S an F rancisco C A 1 FC APU Hybrid

C TA / C hicago IL 1 C hicago FC B

B J C TA / B irmingham AL 1 B irmingham FC B

Ohio S tate / C olumbus OH 1 E coS aver IV Hybrid FC BUS C , C MR TA / C olumbia DC DO T / W as hington

S C DC 1 C omposite FC B

Demonstration s ites color coded by geographic area: Northern C alifornia Northeas t S outh

S outhern C alifornia S outheas t Midwes t

F uel C ell E lec tric B us E valuations for DOE and F T A

S ite/Locations S tateNo.

B uses

Future Work

May 2012

21

Future Work

• Remainder of FY 2012 o Continue data collection on 2nd generation FCEBs at AC

Transit, SunLine, and City of Burbank o Continue data collection on FCEBs developed under the

FTA program o Complete first crosscutting analysis of 2nd generation

FCEBs at all sites • FY 2013

o Analyze data and report on FCEBs at Burbank, SunLine, and AC Transit

o Explore new sites for potential data collection o Continue coordinating data collection activities with FTA o Complete annual crosscutting analysis across sites

22

Summary

Documented progress with 2nd generation FCEBs including: • Mileage accumulation at 1,500 miles/month • FCEB fuel economy consistently higher than diesel and CNG baseline • FCEB designs approach 2x fuel economy; meeting target of 8 mpdge • Average availability at 53%, most recent month up to 62% • FCPP MBRC increasing – 38% improvement over 1st generation FCEBs • Reliability data show road calls not typically due to FC system • Top fuel cell powerplant surpasses 11,000 hours

Units 2012 Status Draft Target

Bus Lifetime Years / miles 4.5 / 90,000 12 / 500,000

Powerplant Lifetime Years / hours 4 / 11,000 + 6 / 25,000

Bus Use Miles per month 1,500 3,000

Bus Availability % 62 90

Fuel Economy Miles per diesel gallon equivalent 8 8

Road call frequency Miles between road call 2,239 / 2,928 / 11,279 (All, propulsion system, FCPP)

4,000 / 10,000 (All, Powerplant)