The Honorable Peter Buttigieg
Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20590
Dear Secretary Buttigieg:
We, the undersigned, recognize and appreciate your strong commitment to improving our Nation’s transportation and infrastructure in ways that will respond to communities’ unique challenges and needs, addressing equity, workforce development, confronting the climate crisis, and supporting a zero-emission future.
As Congress and the Administration continue to make bold and necessary investments in zero-emission bus deployments, as well as related research, development, and demonstration projects, we urge the U.S. Department of Transportation to encourage the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell electric buses. A zero-emission transit future benefits all, no matter the chosen technology.
While we support battery electric bus adoption and encourage the use of federal resources to further build upon existing battery cell technologies, we want to underscore the importance of investing in hydrogen fuel cell bus deployments – as it can often be overlooked or unintentionally excluded from political discourse.
To that end, we would like to outline the advantages of hydrogen fuel cell electric buses, so as to highlight the interest in this technology and the importance it plays in a zero-emission transit future. Hydrogen fuel cell electric buses have numerous advantages – short refueling time (less than 10 minutes), extended range (over 300 miles between refueling), consistent power delivery in hot and cold climates, and proven fuel cell durability.
We are progressively seeing fuel cells as an essential component of the bus propulsion system. With an increasing number of transit providers procuring hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and constructing on-site green hydrogen fueling stations, we encourage the Administration to support this burgeoning market – creating good paying jobs in the process.
We believe battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric buses will coexist as we move forward towards a zero-emission transit future. We look forward to continuing to work alongside the U.S. Department of Transportation as robust investments are made to advance the zero-emission economy.
Sincerely,
Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District
Contra Costa Transportation Authority
Foothill Transit
InterCity Transit
Mass Transportation Authority (MTA Flint)
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
Spokane Transit Authority
Stark Area Regional Transit Authority
SunLine Transit Agency
Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon
American Public Transportation Association
CALSTART
Center for Transportation and the Environment
Community Transportation Association of America
Air Products
Ballard Power Systems
Black & Veatch
ElDorado National (California), Inc. (ENC)
Hexagon ASA
IGX Group
Ivys Energy Solutions
Nel Hydrogen
New Flyer
PDC Machines Inc
Plug Power
Van Hool
