AC TransitAlameda-Contra Costa Transit is operating the United States’ largest fuel cell transit bus fleet and will soon open a first-of-its-kind hydrogen station in Emeryville. At the California Hydrogen Business Council meeting, we got a tour of the station and a ride on the fuel cell bus.

The station is a state-of-the-art fueling facility that will dispense hydrogen made both from natural gas and from water and solar electricity. Located across the street from Pixar Studios, the public side of the station is just off the street and accessible to anyone driving an OEMOriginal Equipment Manufacturer fuel cell vehicle. The passenger side of the station will offer hydrogen made from solar electricity and water. (The solar panels are part of the station design. You have to look closely to realize they are PV panels.)

On the other side of the fence is the bus fueling side. The transit yard on 47th Street is home base to hundreds of AC Transit buses and one of the major fueling locations. The Linde-built station uses delivered hydrogen to fill the buses. It takes about 10 minutes to fill a bus with 30kg of hydrogen, enough fuel for hundreds of miles of stop-and-start driving for 16 hours a day. With the new station, AC Transit is working to get refueling time down to six minutes per bus.

The new station will dispense up to 425kg of hydrogen per day. Soon a companion bus-only station in Oakland will increase the fueling capacity. That station will make it’s fuel from biogas.

Click here to watch a slideshow from the tour

Click here to learn more about the station