Linde Hydrogen Station Begins Operating in Emeryville, California > Fuel Cell Dispatch

Linde Hydrogen Station Begins Operating in Emeryville, California

Linde’s newest hydrogen fueling station has officially begun operating at AC Transit’s Emeryville, California, municipal bus operating division, fueling 12 fuel cell buses and up to 20 passenger cars a day.

Linde North America is a member of The Linde Group, a leader in the design, construction and operation of the most efficient and reliable hydrogen vehicle fueling systems. AC Transit is the transit bus operator for 13 cities in the East Bay Area, including Emeryville, Oakland and Berkeley, and also operates trans-bay service to San Francisco.

The Emeryville hydrogen fueling station, which began operating in late 2011, is one of two Linde is supplying to AC Transit. The second, located at the Oakland operating division, is expected to begin operating in 2013. Both stations are part of AC Transit’s HyRoad project, which seeks to demonstrate the commercial viability of hydrogen fuel cell technology for the public transport industry.

Replacing diesel with hydrogen fuel completely eliminates vehicle tailpipe emissions. The California Air Resources Board estimates that fuel cell buses will deliver a net reduction of 2.7 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile using hydrogen reformed from methane, and 6.3 pounds per mile using hydrogen derived from solar, wind, or other renewable sources. Each bus is projected to travel 36,000 miles per year, reducing carbon emissions by 44 metric tons per year when using methane as a source of fuel, or 103 metric tons using renewables.

Pat Murphy, president, Linde North America, said, “We believe you are judged by the company you keep, and Linde is proud to partner with a leader in municipal transit, AC Transit. We are confident this partnership and project will prove to be a watershed for clean fuel.”

David Armijo, AC Transit’s general manager, noted the significance of its new Emeryville hydrogen station and fleet of fuel cell buses, saying, “We are working with companies like Linde to demonstrate alternative energy technologies in real-world operating conditions that will make our transportation systems more energy efficient and cleaner, our cities healthier, and our planet environmentally sustainable. We are impressed with Linde’s technology and the capability of our new station to provide our fleet with clean, green hydrogen fuel.”

Murphy said, “Linde has designed, built and delivered the newest, most efficient hydrogen fueling system, which moves from demonstration project to providing a real commercial solution for a real market and real customers. This station is proving the viability of the hydrogen fuel cell market, for both buses and cars, while offering AC Transit the easiest, fastest and most reliable hydrogen fueling experience available anywhere,” Murphy said.

This is the first public hydrogen fueling station in the San Francisco Bay area. It meets industry needs for fast fueling and includes both 700 and 350 bar fueling. Daimler, which has tested fuel cell cars at the station on several occasions, described the station as “the best we have filled at in the United States. Performance-wise, it meets the Daimler requirement of a three-to-four minute complete fill with a delivered gas temperature of -40o C, the best available today. In addition to fill performance, the station reliably demonstrated the capability to fill four fuel cell vehicles back-to-back,” said Rosario Beretta, general manager, Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc., who is responsible for Mercedes-Benz fuel cell vehicle operations in North America.

Murphy acknowledged the crucial funding the stations received from both the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission, saying, “We applaud the efforts of Governor Brown’s Administration to encourage additional investment in hydrogen fuel. This public support is necessary to spur additional private investment so California can achieve its aggressive tailpipe emissions reduction goals by 2020 and beyond.”