San Francisco gets all the credit in California for being sustainable, but Burbank has something up its sleeve: the West Coast's first hydrogen fuel cell bus.
The city has been selected as a test market for hydrogen fuel cell technology in public transportation systems by Proterra, a hybrid vehicle company.
Burbank's 67 passenger bus can travel up to 250 miles without being recharged and takes only 6 minutes to get all the power it needs from a regular wall outlet. The battery is also partially recharged from energy generated when the bus driver brakes.
Burbank's zero-emissions, ultra-quiet prototype will be formally unveiled in spring 2009.
While I assume Proterra will take care of at least some of the costs for the Burbank test run, the capital necessary for similar projects will likely remain elusive for most cities— especially in our current economy.