5,000-hour durability milestone for transit bus fuel cell system

271 UTC Power, a 2064 United Technologies Corporation company, has announced one of its latest generation PureMotion Model 120 fuel cell powerplants for hybrid-electric transit buses has surpassed 5,000 operating hours in real-world service with its original cell stacks and no cell replacements. This powerplant is aboard an Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) bus operating in the Greater Oakland, California area.

274 AC Transit interim general manager Mary King commented, "This is an important milestone for our programme that shows the steady progress of fuel cell technology and its potential value to urban transit fleets."

Three of AC Transit's buses are equipped with UTC Power fuel cell systems and have now travelled over 340,000kms, with an average fuel economy that is 65 per cent better than the control fleet of diesel buses running the same routes and duty cycles.