Ventura County Transit Advances Green Transportation with New Hydrogen Fueling Station and Fuel Cell Buses

E-mobility infrastructure firm Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has gained a contract to design and build a new hydrogen fueling station for the Gold Coast Transit District in Ventura County, California.

Gold Coast Transit District recently announced a partnership with bus supplier New Flyer on five 40-foot hydrogen fuel cell-electric (H2FC) buses deployed into its fleet. The partnership also includes the Center for Transportation and the Environment in constructing a hydrogen fueling station which could support 50 H2FC buses in the future.

“We look forward to working with Clean Energy through the construction of a new hydrogen station and then rolling out our first zero-emissions fuel cell buses,” said Vanessa Rauschenberger, Gold Coast Transit District General Manager. “GCTD has always been at the forefront of clean transportation, and transitioning our fleet to include hydrogen-powered buses will enable us to provide Ventura County with even greener transportation options in the years to come.”

The new hydrogen station is expected to be completed in 2027 and will be located at GCTD’s Oxnard facility.

Fuel cells utilize an electrochemical process to convert fuel into electricity with minimal or no carbon emissions. Hydrogen itself does not contain carbon in its molecular chain and does not emit CO2 at the point of use. Generating H2 at scale, however, requires either steam reforming of methane gas, which is carbon-intensive, or hydrogen production using electrolyzers splitting the H2 from water.

Hydrogen fuel-cell technology is considered by many in the trucking industry as a better long-term solution than battery electric for decarbonizing large and long-haul vehicles. H2FC offers longer range, faster refueling and higher payload capacity than battery electric, according to reports.

Currently, Clean Energy maintains GCTD’s natural gas station and provides RNG for their fleet of 61 buses.