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    Phoenix Mass Transit orders NFI H2 Fuel Cell and Hybrid Electric Buses

    May 25, 2023
    The mass transit order from Arizona’s largest city initially includes six fuel cell-electric buses and 20 low-emission hybrid-electric buses for the PTD. Fuel cells can convert natural gas or hydrogen into electric drivetrains
    Image credit NFI
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    The Public Transit Department of Phoenix is ordering as many as 320 low-and-zero-emission buses from New Flyer Industries (NFI), the companies announced today.
    The mass transit order for Arizona’s largest city initially includes six fuel cell-electric buses and 20 low-emission hybrid-electric buses for the PTD. Fuel cells can convert natural gas or hydrogen into electricity while hybrid is a combination of batteries and gasoline or diesel engines.
    The two five-year contracts between NFI and PTD include options to purchase up to 160 fuel-cell electrics and 160 hybrids in buses. Altogether, NFI now has about 346 bus orders in its first-quarter backlog.
    The Phoenix Mass Transit’s 2050 Transportation Electrification plan calls for fleet electricition across the routes through the region of the Valley Metro. The city’s Metro and NFI have a business relationship dating back three decades.
    “Having delivered nearly 1,000 vehicles to PTD since 1994, we are honored to support its goal of transitioning to a 100% electric fleet by 2040,” said Chris Stoddart, President, North American Bus and Coach, NFI, in a statement. “Our high-performance fuel cell-electric and hybrid-electric buses will support a smooth transition to sustainable mobility through high operational performance, maintenance savings, and improved air quality.”
    The New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE FC is the hydrogen fuel cell-electric model, while the hybrid-electric buses offer a balance between combustion engine and zero-emission propulsion. The options promise to reduce both nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.