Hydrogen bus versus electric bus cost and range
Hydrogen bus versus electric bus cost and range comes down to one trade transit agencies keep making the same way. A fuel cell electric bus, which turns hydrogen gas into electricity onboard to power its motor, averages about 370 miles per fill, a 2024 WSP Center for Clean Transportation survey states. A battery electric bus, which runs on a large rechargeable battery charged by plugging in, typically manages under 175 miles per charge, the same survey states. The hydrogen bus refuels in about 15 minutes rather than the hours a battery electric bus needs to recharge, yet that range and speed advantage has not turned into market share.
Both ranges are advertised manufacturer figures for a 40 foot bus in the 2024 United States market, not a real world figure for either technology. Real world data from SunLine Transit Agency later in this article shows actual bus mileage falling well short of a rated range.
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| Battery electric bus | 178 to 374 miles |
| Fuel cell electric bus | 300 to 430 miles |
Hydrogen still just 6% of the fleet
Fuel cell buses funded, ordered, delivered or deployed across the United States grew from 129 in 2021 to 211 in 2022 to 372 in 2023, a 76% jump in the most recent year, the nonprofit CALSTART counts in its national census. Battery electric buses grew larger over the same years, reaching 5,775 in 2023 from 3,168 in 2021. Even after that growth, fuel cell buses made up only 6% of the 6,147 zero emission buses on the road nationwide in 2023, a fast growth rate and a small market share both at once.
Fuel cell electric buses made up only 6% of the United States zero emission bus fleet in 2023 even after growing 76% in the most recent year, so growth rate and market share are 2 different findings.
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| 2021 | 129 |
| 2022 | 211 |
| 2023 | 372 |
Hydrogen buses cost more to buy
The range advantage costs money before a bus leaves the lot. A 40 foot fuel cell bus costs 1.2 million to 1.5 million dollars in the 2024 United States market, the same survey states, against 800,000 to 1.2 million dollars for a battery electric bus of the same length. A 60 foot fuel cell bus from New Flyer costs 1.8 million dollars. The Alameda Contra Costa Transit District, known as AC Transit, won a 25.5 million dollar federal grant in 2023 toward 25 more fuel cell buses, part of a 40.0 million dollar project that works out to about 1.6 million dollars a bus, a MAOWCE calculation inside the price range the same survey gives for that size class.
These figures are the low end of each price range for the 2024 United States market, so a single bar does not show the highest price the same source states.
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| Battery electric bus, 40 foot | 800,000 |
| Fuel cell electric bus, 40 foot | 1,200,000 |
| Fuel cell electric bus, 60 foot | 1,800,000 |
Hydrogen fuel itself costs more per mile
SunLine Transit Agency in Thousand Palms, California, a long running hydrogen bus program, measured its own hydrogen fuel cost at 1.84 dollars a mile on average across a year of real world operation, against 0.29 dollars a mile for the compressed natural gas buses, fueled by natural gas squeezed into onboard tanks, running the same routes. The hydrogen station SunLine operates dispenses 30 kilograms of hydrogen in 15 minutes, the fast refueling that gives hydrogen buses their range advantage in practice.
A gap between funding and a bus on the road
AC Transit has run hydrogen buses since 1999 and states on its own program page that it has spent 294 million dollars on its zero emission program, reaching a current fleet of 58 zero emission buses, 30 hydrogen fuel cell and 28 battery electric. A March 2024 report on the same agency recorded that identical total, 58 buses, before 21 more battery electric buses, 20 more fuel cell buses ordered in 2022, and the 25 more fuel cell buses funded by the 2023 grant above were due to arrive. Reading that current page against the 2024 report side by side shows the fleet total has not moved even as dozens of ordered and funded buses were supposed to join it, the gap between a hydrogen bus being funded and one actually carrying a passenger running into years, longer than it takes a battery electric bus to enter service.