B.C. Transit has announced that the first of 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses will arrive in about a week and a half, on November 17 in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The first bus will arrive next Monday and will be in service for passengers the following week.
Whistler, BC is one of the end points in the British Columbia Hydrogen Highway system. When complete, visitors will be able to travel from Whistler to Squamish to Surrey to Vancouver to Richmond and then to Victoria and back. The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver, BC.
The other 19 hydrogen fuel cell buses will arrive in Whistler before the end of December where they will undergo commissioning and servicing. So far, tests of the fuel cell buses have proven that they can be in service for 22 hours straight and hold up under temperatures of -20C, which may come into play when the 2010 Winter Olympics start in February 2010.
In fact, as of this writing it is only 98 days until the 2010 Winter Olympics and the Olympic torch is already on the road being relayed from one city to the next. And getting a jump on the 2012 London Summer Olympics, the UK is readying its largest city for five hydrogen fuel cell buses and six hydrogen fueling stations.
London’s Mayor Boris Johnson would also like to have 150 hydrogen cars including 20 hydrogen fuel cell black taxis ready by 2012 as well. As for the five hydrogen buses in the UK, they are expected to be completed by the summer of 2010.
Olympics are excellent event to promote hydrogen as a fuel. Hope that hydrogen people and companies will not waste opportunity to explain all advantages compared to fossil fuel.
Hydrogen cell producers may donate Olympics and spend some money on advertising