A hydrogen/fuel cell bus program in Brazil

The Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area (SPMA) in Brazil is a densely populated urban place and suffers from severe pollution, being an ideal place to test environmental protection technologies. A clean technology to power vehicles is the hydragen/air fuel cell, particularly the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEWC). This work describes the first phase of a project for the introduction of hydrogen/air PEMFC powered buses in the SPMA, implemented by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (NIME)/Departamento Nacional de Desenvolvimento Energetico (DNDE), the Empresa Metropolitana de Transportes Urbanos de Sao Paulo S. A. (EMTU) and the University of Sao Paulo (USP). Phase I (a pre-feasibility study) is already concluded and deals with: 1) An evaluation of the state of the art in fuel cell powered buses; 2) the potential market in Brazil, 3) the options to provide hydrogen to the buses and 4) the costs and benefits of the project.