The Ford Motor Company has built 30 hydrogen-fueled E-450 buses for use by corporate and government clients. The Wayne County Airport Authority has procured two of these buses for passenger transportation within the Detroit Metropolitan Airport complex. This purchase means that Ford has two-thirds of its hydrogen bus fleet running in cities from Florida to Vancouver.
The funding for these two shuttles is available through a federal grant from the Department of Energy. The move away from gas-powered buses at one of the nation’s busiest airports may seem antithetical in a state that lives or dies with the auto industry. Representative John Dingell and state leaders are cutting a middle path by investing in hydrogen fuels. The political realities and budgetary problems of procuring an electric infrastructure are coupled with the need for alternative solutions in purchasing these shuttles.
The Wayne County Airport Authority recognized the need for a hydrogen station to fuel the E-450 buses. A set of hydrogen pumps near the airport’s property will provide sufficient fuel for the buses when they are off duty. The limited distance covered by the airport’s hydrogen shuttles will not be a difficult test of their fuel capacity, mileage and durability. These limitations offer officials in Michigan and other states to witness Ford’s V-10 hydrogen engine in action without the automaker’s sales pitch.
The real question arises when thinking about the advancement of hydrogen fuels by the federal government and major auto companies. President Bush and Congress have promoted hydrogen as the next generation of fuels to ease the United States off a complete reliance on gasoline. The Department of Energy grant for Detroit Metropolitan Airport’s shuttles shows the rhetoric about alternative fuels is real.
The E-450s running between terminals at Detroit’s airport may not spew the same emissions as traditional shuttles but they provide new fueling obstacles. Hydrogen fuel cells are expensive to maintain and react poorly to cold weather that is common in places like Michigan. The billions of dollars needed for a significant network of fueling stations and testing facilities cannot be obtained presently without reconciling other budgetary constraints. Ford’s fleet of E-450s will remain steady without eliminating these barriers to commercial use.
