BC Transit decides to put fuel cell buses up for sale

Much- vaunted ‘ hydrogen highway’ hits a major roadblock

BC Transit is trying to sell off its much- hyped fleet of 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses.

The buses were brought in to Whistler as part of an $ 89- million demonstration program during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Whistler had fully integrated the buses into its transit system; the fuel- cell vehicles accounted for two- thirds of the resort municipality’s fleet.

A request for offers to purchase up to 20 of the buses was posted last month on the BC Bid website. No purchase price is specified.

Bidding for the buses ends on Dec. 19, but BC Transit has said it reserves the right to reject all bids and keep the buses.

The buses originally cost $ 2.1 million each, or about four times as much as a conventional diesel bus. Information obtained last year under a Freedom of Information Act request suggested that the vehicles also cost three times more in maintenance and fuel costs than the diesel buses they replaced.

The fuel- cell fleet is the largest in the world, and former premier Gordon Campbell promoted it as part of a “hydrogen highway” stretching from Whistler to California.

Burnaby’s Ballard Power Systems, which manufactured the fuel cells, boasted that they can be twice as energy- efficient as conventional buses and produce fewer greenhouse gases.

But the program was panned by the David Suzuki Foundation, which suggested trolley buses as a greener option. An anticipated B. C. fuelling station never materialized, and so hydrogen had to be trucked in from Quebec every 10 days, greatly increasing the emissions generated by the program.