Montgomery County’s first hydrogen buses have arrived, starting the future of local zero-emission transit, the county’s Department of Transportation said in a Sept. 12 announcement.
The 13 new zero-emission hydrogen-electric buses will serve MCDOT’s Flash Bus Rapid Transit corridors. Service is expected to begin in spring or summer 2027, starting on the U.S. 29 Flash corridor, which runs between downtown Silver Spring and Howard County.
This development comes a few years after Montgomery County won a nearly $15 million “Low or No Emissions” award for the first hydrogen-electric bus project on the East Coast.
The $15 million award allowed MCDOT to replace 13 diesel-fueled buses in the county’s Ride On fleet with hydrogen-electric-powered buses, according to a 2022 news release.
The project advances the county’s goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2035. These new buses reduce annual emissions by 640 tons while maintaining a reliable and sustainable transit service.
“This is the first project of its kind on the East Coast and drives forward several of our priorities, including converting our bus fleets to clean energy, reducing harmful emissions and improving our transit system — all in alignment with our ambitious climate goals,” County Executive Marc Elrich said in the news release.
The zero-emission buses use hydrogen to power electric motors and emit only water from their tailpipes.
In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration announced about $1.1 billion for grants to help modernize buses and help transit agencies buy or lease low- or no-emission vehicles that use advanced technology to help improve air quality and combat climate change.
This FTA award covers 57% of the total $28.6 million that the hydrogen-electric bus project costs, the news release said.
“We are consistently seeking and applying for grants to further the County’s transportation system,” MCDOT Director Chris Conklin said in the news release. “These hydrogen buses are a key element in reaching our zero-emissions goal. They have a longer service period than electric buses to accommodate longer routes in our system and are faster to refuel.”
Though these new buses are more costly than diesel-fueled buses, they are equipped to handle longer routes without having to recharge, MCDOT wrote in a reply under its Sept. 12 Facebook post. Because they’re zero-emission, the new buses are “quiet and good for the environment,” according to MCDOT.
The county’s Department of General Services is currently building the county’s first hydrogen refueling stations, an endeavor that typically costs $4 million to $5 million.
