California Air Resources Board Seeking Hydrogen Trial Fleet
13 April 2006
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has issued an RFP for a diverse fleet of 14 hydrogen-powered vehicles including light-duty passenger vehicles, cargo vehicles and vans or buses to demonstrate the viability of hydrogen fuel and hydrogen vehicles for transportation.
The vehicles will be leased for up to 24 months, and will be used in State service as appropriate for the vehicle type. Contractors responding to the RFP will need to supply a new vehicle, driver training, educational materials, safety information, and maintenance for the vehicle.
While hydrogen hybrids are acceptable, ARB will not consider vehicles that run on a combination of gaseous or liquid fuels (e.g., bi-fuel gasoline and hydrogen or CNG/hydrogen mixtures) for this project. Such vehicles would not be optimized for hydrogen, ARB states, and “would not maximize the support for a hydrogen infrastructure.”
The end user will be the Air Resources Board, or another State of California Agency or University to be identified after the vehicle selection process is completed.
The California Hydrogen Highway Network (CaH2Net) is a State initiative to promote the use of hydrogen as a means of diversifying energy used, while ensuring environmental and economic benefits.
To be implemented in three phases, the California Hydrogen Blueprint Plan outlines a path to 250 hydrogen fueling stations and 20,000 hydrogen-fueled vehicles. (Earlier post.)
California passed Senate Bill 76 to further the goals of the hydrogen blueprint plan. This law provides the funding to lease the fleet of 14 vehicles sought via the RFP, and to co-fund up to 3 demonstration hydrogen fueling stations. The RFP addresses only the vehicles.
Interesting. Let's hope both Toyota and Honda put in their fair share of vehicles into this projects. Please keep us updated Mike.
Posted by: lensovet | 14 April 2006 at 05:08 PM