Georgetown University Fuel Cell Bus Program
The Georgetown University Fuel Cell Bus Program has concluded.
This site will remain available for information on the background and history of the program. For inquiries on the program, please see the Contact page.
Generation III Fuel Cell Bus Program
FTA issued two grant amendments to Georgetown in 2005, and the Generation III Fuel Cell Bus Program was launched with the goal of leveraging the latest automotive methanol fuel cell technology for the bus application. The Generation III Program was structured in two phases: Phase I was the development and testing of a 50 kW methanol fuel cell system, and Phase II was the design, manufacturing, and integration of a 30-foot bus with the Phase I fuel cell system.
Generation III Methanol Fuel Cell System and the EVAmerica prototype Ecobus
In 2006, Phase I of the program kicked off. The Generation III fuel cell system was developed by a team led by EPRI (the Electric Power Research Institute). The other team members were ZSW - the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (Zentrum für Sonnenenergie und Wasserstoff-Forschung), a nonprofit research institute in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany - and NuCellSys GmbH. The main goal of the Phase I development was to apply the lessons learned from previous generations of NuCellSys methanol fuel cell technology (the NeCar 3 fuel cell system, which was also the basis for the Georgetown Generation II Ballard X1 Bus, and the NeCar 5 fuel cell system) to develop a 50 kW fuel cell system that would power a 30-foot hybrid electric transit bus with advanced batteries.
The fuel cell system was based on the next-generation methanol processing technology that NuCellSys developed after the NeCar 5 system. It included advancements in every technical aspect, and is designed for simplicity and manufacturability. This Generation III fuel cell system demonstrated significant advances over the systems in the Generation II buses, particularly in size and weight. The Generation III system had a specific power (power per unit weight, in W/kg) that was 3 times better than the Ballard X1 Bus, and a power density (power per unit volume, in W/L) that was 5 times better.
The packaged design of the Generation III Methanol Fuel Cell System
Phase II of the program started in 2008. The key team members for this phase of the program were CTE (Center for Transportation and the Environment) in Atlanta, GA and EVAmerica in Chattanooga, TN. The Generation III bus was intended to be a modified version of EVAmerica's 30-foot Ecobus, of which battery-electric and diesel hybrid electric versions were already in development. The bus design effort was put on hold in late 2009 so that remaining funds could be applied to completing as much as possible of the Phase I fuel cell system development and testing.
The Georgetown University Generation III Program concluded in July 2011 when there were not sufficient funds remaining on the federal grant to continue the development further. The Generation III effort ended with a methanol fuel cell system design and prototype hardware on which extensive testing had been done, but final system development was not finished. A preliminary bus design was completed, but the bus manufacturing was not started. For further information, please see the Contact page.