SEPTA is planning to roll out 10 hydrogen fuel cell buses this fall as part of its pilot program to help determine what role hydrogen could play in a future zero-emissions fleet, writes Sophia Schmidt for WHYY.

During a year-long project, the 10 participating buses will carry passengers along several routes through the city and its suburbs, which will help SEPTA determine how they perform over different terrain, as well as in various weather conditions.

“We’re going to see what it’s going to be like actually operating the buses,” said Donzell Dunston, project manager of SEPTA’s power department. “So we actually can test it out to see okay, it can handle this route.”

SEPTA hopes to transition its entire fleet of 1,300 buses to zero-emissions by 2040, with hydrogen expected to be a significant part of the picture.

“We will be a mixed fleet, between … battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell,” said Tyler Ladd, director of power engineering at SEPTA. “What we’re doing now with these pilot projects is determining what that percent mix is going to be.”

The first phase of the pilot will see SEPTA compare the performance of the hydrogen fuel cell buses with its current hybrid buses, then it will pilot new battery electric buses to compare with the fuel cell hydrogen buses.

Read more about SEPTA’s hydrogen fuel cell bus pilot program in WHYY.

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