Popple explained that hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are a “technology looking for a problem.” I’ve been making that case for over a decade, but the exponentially-growing success of electric vehicles now simply leaves no significant room (or rationale) in the marketplace for hydrogen vehicles, big or small… over 10- to 12-year lifetime of a typical urban bus, Proterra can save $400,000 in total operational costs compared to a typical diesel.So with the kind of sharp price drops in batteries we’ve been seeing, it was only a matter of time before the higher first-cost of the electric bus was dwarfed by the fuel and maintenance costs savings…Today, with batteries in the $300/kwh range, Proterra can offer private operators a deal where they buy the bus and lease the battery for the same upfront costs as the diesel alternative, but with guaranteed monthly savings. That is very similar to the kind of lease deal for solar power that proved game-changing several years ago. Significantly, because the technology is so well-demonstrated in the marketplace, Proterra can actually get third-party private financing so that it can get paid the full cost of the bus upfront…with much faster bursts. Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive, which is a subsidiary of high-speed train maker CRRC, uses advanced super-capacitors to charge batteries for 3 miles (5 kilometers) more of transit … in ten seconds!

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