History of Leadership

AC Transit has a proud history of embracing environmental technology in our efforts to better serve our neighborhoods and has long been a recognized leader in this field, both nationally and internationally. Our first hydrogen fueling facility was opened in November of 2002 at our Richmond Division to operate a single 30-foot fuel cell electric bus. In 2006, we launched our first-generation fuel cell electric bus pilot program, operating three vehicles and a station out of our East Oakland Division. In 2010, we added 13 second-generation fuel cell electric buses to the fleet and opened a second hydrogen fueling station at our Emeryville Division. A solid oxide stationary fuel cell was added to our East Oakland Division in 2013. Then, the following year, we opened a new hydrogen fueling station on the site. In 2017, our fuel cell power plants surpassed the Department of Energy and Federal Transit Administration’s target numbers of 25,000 hours of operation.

Then in 2019, AC Transit embarked on a true side-by-side comparison—incorporating five battery electric buses and seven charging stations into our expanding fleet of ZEBs. We will be running hydrogen and battery electric vehicles in identical service to collect real-world performance data for comparison—and to determine which technology performs better to meet the needs of our service as we move towards a complete zero-emission fleet by 2040.