Linde North America has officially opened a hydrogen fueling station in Emeryville, Calif. – the first publicly accessible site in the San Francisco Bay area – that is serving AC Transit's fleet of 12 fuel-cell buses and local hydrogen-powered passenger vehicles.
The Emeryville hydrogen fueling station is one of two Linde is supplying to the company. The new station meets industry needs for fast fueling, including both 700 bar and 350 bar fueling, Linde says. The second, located in Oakland, is scheduled to begin operating next year. Both projects received funding from the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission.
‘Performance-wise, it meets the Daimler requirement of a three-to-four minute complete fill with a delivered gas temperature of -40 degrees C. In addition to fill performance, the station reliably demonstrated the capability to fill four fuel cell vehicles back-to-back,’ says Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America Inc.'s Rosario Beretta, who is responsible for Mercedes-Benz fuel cell vehicle operations in North America.
AC Transit's HyRoad project is aimed at demonstrating the commercial viability of hydrogen fuel cell technology for the public transportation industry. AC Transit operates transit buses for 13 cities, including Emeryville, Oakland and Berkeley, and also operates trans-bay service to San Francisco.
