After years of planning, research, and engineering development, Humboldt County is getting its first hydrogen-powered bus at the end of this month.

It’s been a long time coming. The Humboldt Transit Authority received a $38.7 million grant back in 2022 from the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program to build a fleet of hydrogen buses, four years after initial studies began. The process wasn’t as easy as simply buying one and having it shipped here; HTA worked with Canadian bus manufacturer New Flyer to develop a bus that can drive about 400 miles without refueling. A typical hydrogen bus can only cover about 300, and an electric bus doesn’t even crack 150. HTA ordered the bus last year, but supply chain issues prevented it from being ready until now. 

It’ll be the first of many. In about three years, all 16 HTA buses will be a  hydrogen-powered Xcelsior Charge H2TM.

It won’t be a development totally unique to Humboldt. The California Air Resources Board voted back in 2019 to phase out all carbon-emitting buses by 2029, and the HTA’s bus fleet has to be at least 25% carbon-free by next year.

The hydrogen fueling station for the buses, located at the bus depot, will also be usable by anyone that owns a hydrogen-powered vehicle, though HTA’s general manager Gregg Pratt doesn’t think there’s anyone here who owns one. 

“It’s an exciting time,” Pratt said in an interview with the Outpost yesterday. “We’re the only agency north of the Bay that’s started [using hydrogen] yet.”