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.

Program History

Generation I

Research into methanol-fueled fuel cell buses began in 1983 with feasibility studies to examine the application of fuel cells to transit buses. The success of these studies led to the development of two 25 kW phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) brassboard systems to demonstrate the technology, followed by the Generation I Bus Program, in which three 30-foot buses using 50 kW PAFC power plants from Fuji were developed and rolled out in 1994-95. For a more complete overview of this program, please see the Generation I Methanol Fuel Cell Bus Program page.

Generation II

After testing and evaluation of the Generation I buses, the FTA funded Georgetown's Generation II Fuel Cell Bus Program. There were two 40-foot transit buses produced during this program. Each bus had a 100 kW methanol fuel cell power plant. The first bus, which was rolled out in 1998, used a PAFC built by UTC Power based on their PureCell 200 stationary fuel cell power system.

The second Generation II bus, officially rolled out in 2001, used a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell built by Ballard Power Systems with twin methanol fuel processors based on technology from Daimler's (then DaimlerChrysler) NeCar 3 methanol fuel cell car. For a more complete overview of this program, please see the Generation II Methanol Fuel Cell Bus Program page.

Generation III

The development of the Generation III fuel cell system started in 2006. Georgetown worked with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), NuCellSys (formerly XCELLSiS and Ballard AG), and ZSW (Zentrum für Sonenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung, Baden-Württemberg [Center for Solar and Hydrogen Energy Research]) to develop a 50 kW PEM fuel cell system using next-generation methanol processing technology developed after the successful demonstration of Daimler's NeCar 5 methanol fuel cell car. This fuel cell system was compact, efficient, lightweight, and designed for manufacturability.

The Generation III project goal was to complete development of this fuel cell system and integrate it into a modern, low-floor, 30-foot transit bus with advanced batteries for demonstration on normal transit service routes. However, technical complications and limited funding prevented this project from being completed. The Georgetown program concluded in 2011. For a more complete overview of this program, please see the Generation III Methanol Fuel Cell Bus Program page.