The Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA), under Kirt Conrad’s leadership, has added 11 Fuel Cell driven buses to its bus fleet. This will be the largest fleet in the country outside of California. SARTA along with Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research lunched the Midwest Fuel Cell Center of Excellence and the Renewable Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Collaborative in 2017. Not only are fuel cells considered safer than gasoline-powered vehicles, they are also 2x-3x more efficient! The fuel cell is able to use 40%-60% of the energy from the fuel, the hydrogen, to power the vehicle. To put that into perspective, a typical gasoline engine is less than 20% efficient at doing the same thing. It also means lower maintenance costs and less engine wear. Overall, the biggest environmental piece of information regarding a fuel cell is the byproducts of the process are heat and drinkable water!
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