Fuel cell transit bus testing and development at Georgetown University

Fourteen years ago, Georgetown University (GU), USA, perceived the need for clean, efficient power systems for transportation that could operate on nonpetroleum based fuels. The transit bus application was selected to begin system development. GU recognized the range and recharge constraints of a pure battery-powered transit bus. A fuel cell power system would circumvent these limitations and, with an onboard reformer, accommodate liquid fuel for rapid refueling. A feasibility study of fuel cell power systems for transit buses was conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory beginning in 1983. Successful results of this investigation resulted in the DOT/DOE Fuel Cell transit bus development program. The first task of this program was to prove that small fuel cell power plants were possible. This was achieved with the Phase I development of two, 25 kW phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) brassboard systems. A liquid cooled version was selected for the Phase II activity in which three, 30-foot fuel cell-powered test bed buses (TBBs) were fabricated. This paper presents test results gained from the TBB testing program and how these are being applied to guide the design and development of the next-generation, Federal Transit Administration sponsored, 40-foot fuel cell-powered transit buses