The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) is working with Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) to deploy their first ten 40’ fuel cell electric buses (FCEBs) and provide support in data reporting and operations, which includes continuing on-going support and data reporting for MTD’s current 60’ FCEBs. In addition, CTE and Transworld Associates (TWA) are supporting MTD in the bus procurement and build of the 40’ FCEBs. TWA is providing inspection quality assurance and quality control inspection services throughout the bus build.
At the start of the project, in December 2022, CTE, MTD, and TWA attended the pre-production meeting at New Flyer in Anniston, AL to review the technical summary and bus contract and warranty for the 40’ FCEBs and tour New Flyer’s Visitor Innovation Center and plant.
CTE is currently generating monthly Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reports for MTD’s current fleet. These reports include metrics on bus and hydrogen station performance and environmental impacts, which help MTD to effectively prepare for the deployment of the 40’ FCEBs. CTE recently developed a dashboard to easily stream this data; this dashboard compiles existing data streams to summarize fleet and station performance over time to provide MTD with a performance overview and progress report of their fleet operations. This dashboard is currently being finalized and will be maintained throughout the duration of the project.
CTE is working with Trillium, MTD’s hydrogen fueling station operator, to prepare for meeting MTD’s expected fueling needs for their current fleet and ten buses in manufacturing. CTE is also supporting MTD and Trillium in minimizing on-site hydrogen production costs by utilizing the new solar array implemented in October 2022 as much as possible.
MTD’s 40’ FCEBs are in production; TWA is currently on-site at New Flyer to inspect the FCEBs as they travel through the production line. CTE is coordinating weekly calls with MTD, TWA, and New Flyer to discuss bus build and inspection updates and track all action items as needed.
