On a cloudy afternoon last November, seven members of the Climate Jobs Institute (CJI) staff visited the first clean hydrogen transit facility in North America, which happens to be in our own backyard. The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) operates a growing fleet of electric buses fueled by hydrogen produced using solar power just outside its garage in Urbana, Illinois. This facility has become a showcase for emission-free transit, winning the 2022 “Most Innovative” award from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and attracting visitors from other agencies near and far.
We were curious to see this innovative facility in action and learn how the workforce is adapting to new technologies. CJI informs Illinois’ clean energy transition through research that foregrounds workers and their communities, promoting high-quality job creation in line with the state’s climate and workforce goals. Our visit, guided by Maintenance and Facilities Director Josh Berbaum, highlighted the importance of public investment, ongoing training, and close partnerships with vendors to support MTD’s clean hydrogen initiative.
A commitment to sustainability
MTD has a longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability. In 2009, the Board of Trustees decided to phase out diesel buses. (Diesel engines emit greenhouse gases and other pollutants that harm human health and the environment.) Today, MTD operates a fleet of 118 low- or zero-emission buses, including 12 hydrogen fuel cell electric buses and 106 diesel electric hybrids. It has also reduced emissions at its facilities through upgrades such as a rooftop solar array and geothermal heating and cooling system.
MTD’s Climate Action Plan aims to replace all remaining diesel hybrids with battery electric or hydrogen fuel cell electric buses by 2038. This phased approach has reduced emissions while spreading out costs and giving the agency’s workforce, suppliers, and consultants time to establish systems for operating new technologies safely and reliably.
Clean hydrogen–from sunshine to water
What makes MTD’s use of hydrogen so innovative is the production and fueling infrastructure that supports its buses. It uses solar power to make its own hydrogen with zero greenhouse gas emissions.
A 2-megawatt solar array located at the neighboring wastewater treatment site powers an electrolyzer—a device that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen—producing up to 420 kilograms of hydrogen daily. The hydrogen gas is then cooled, compressed, and piped into a series of high-pressure tanks with 1,000 kilograms of storage capacity. A nearby fueling station pumps hydrogen out of storage to refill the tanks of buses on their way into the garage.
The fuel cells produce electricity onboard the buses by separating electrons from hydrogen molecules. The electrons generate electricity, while the remaining hydrogen ions combine with oxygen to create water. This means that hydrogen fuel cell electric buses only emit water vapor. Compared to a traditional diesel bus that emits up to 135 tons of greenhouse gases annually, MTD’s hydrogen buses are clean and healthy.
In addition to their health and environmental benefits, hydrogen buses offer operational advantages for a busy transit system like MTD. They can travel farther and refuel in less time than it takes to recharge a battery electric bus (without a hydrogen fuel cell). They also perform better in the cold and heat the inside of the bus primarily with thermal energy from the fuel cell. (An auxiliary heater operates on battery power as needed.) This enables MTD to run hydrogen fuel cell electric buses on any route and ensure reliable service throughout the year. On peak days, MTD operates dozens of routes that crisscross and loop around a service area of nearly 40 square miles, encompassing the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus and much of the surrounding metro area.
Workforce training and partnerships
While hydrogen buses aren’t that different from diesel hybrid buses from the perspective of drivers and riders, there are major differences in how MTD acquires, fuels, and maintains them. To start with, few companies supply them. MTD purchased its fleet of 12 from New Flyer, which is the only manufacturer of transit-style hydrogen buses in North America. Given the small market and rapidly changing technology, New Flyer builds them largely by hand at a single plant in Anniston, Alabama. (A second production line in St. Cloud, Minnesota is scheduled to start later this year.)
Costs are high for early adopters like MTD, which spent $13 million on its latest purchase of 10 hydrogen buses. Replacement parts also cost more and take longer to acquire than mass-produced parts for diesel buses. Understandably, MTD takes scrupulous care of its hydrogen fleet, sending Master Technician Charlie Lutz to monitor the build in Anniston, inspecting new buses for flaws when they arrive in Urbana, and hosting onsite trainings with technicians from New Flyer and fuel cell supplier Ballard.
MTD faces similar cost and training challenges with its hydrogen infrastructure. While MTD workers operate the fuel pumps and can stop hydrogen production in an emergency, it partners with Trillium Energy to design, install, and maintain this infrastructure. In effect, MTD contracts for a portion of the time (and expense) of a specialized engineer. The downside of this arrangement is that MTD must call in (and wait for) outside help with technical issues. During our visit, for example, one service worker experienced delays in refueling a bus with hydrogen due to a software error.
Developing more in-house expertise is an important part of MTD’s clean energy transition. All employees receive training on safety and sustainability measures. But facilities and maintenance employees need more intensive training to inspect and repair hydrogen fuel and high-voltage electrical systems. In comparison with standard diesel buses, hydrogen fuel cell electric buses have simpler mechanics (no combustion engine or transmission) and more complex electronics (battery packs, sensors, ultra capacitators). Even the diesel electric buses in MTD’s current fleet require a different mix of skills to maintain, though there is substantial overlap (the body and interior of New Flyer’s 40-foot Xcelsior line of buses are nearly identical, whether they run on diesel or hydrogen fuel).
At present, only a few of MTD’s 19 technicians have the requisite skills to do more than cosmetic repairs of its hydrogen buses. This share is expected to increase as the agency acquires more of these buses and establishes an onsite Fuel Cell Training Center in partnership with Ballard. Yet skill development will remain a limiting factor in MTD’s clean energy transition. It is waiting until 2035 to acquire battery electric buses in part to avoid maintaining three different fueling technologies for an extended period (it plans to phase out diesel electric buses in 2037).
MTD’s partnerships with vendors have provided both parties with valuable experience and information about how this technology performs in the real world. As MTD expands its hydrogen facilities and fleet, it will have to grapple with the question “how much expertise can we develop and retain within our workforce?” The answer will depend on many factors—some outside of MTD’s control, some it has a good grasp of, and others that emerge through further trial and error. Perhaps the only prediction we can venture at this point is that the next clean hydrogen transit facility will benefit from MTD’s example.
Future plans and funding
MTD’s hydrogen project is a prime example of a common pattern in transitions to clean energy. High upfront investment is required to adopt technologies whose benefits are only fully realized in the long run. It cost over $18 million to develop MTD’s production facility, solar array, and fueling station, plus another $15 million to acquire its first 12 hydrogen buses. Standard diesel buses would be cheaper in the short run but ultimately more costly in terms of their contribution to climate change and air pollution.
Fortunately, federal and state grants have covered most of MTD’s clean energy investments. From 2019 to 2024, federal sources accounted for 27% of funding for MTD’s hydrogen project, compared with 63% from the State of Illinois and 10% from local sources.
While state support for sustainable transportation technologies is expected to continue, federal funding is at risk. In fall 2024, the US Department of Energy invested $22.2 million (authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) in initial planning and development activities for a Midwest Hydrogen Hub that might eventually supply MTD with clean hydrogen. Continued federal funding of hydrogen hubs and other programs that provide more direct support to MTD—like the Federal Transit Authority’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Program—face threats from the incoming Trump administration. The Trump administration has also proposed broad new tariffs that could add to costs and delays in MTD’s supply chain.
This is the context in which MTD is weighing its options for the next phase of its hydrogen project. It could expand onsite hydrogen production to support 14 additional buses at a cost of $11 million. Or it could support up to 70 buses with liquid hydrogen deliveries and expanded storage at a cost of $9 million. Given the limited commercial supply of hydrogen produced using renewable energy, MTD may end up buying hydrogen produced using power from fossil fuels. The buses themselves would still have zero emissions, but there would be more emissions in the supply chain.
Despite the financial risks and political uncertainty, MTD is prepared to forge ahead with its Climate Action Plan. It has already managed costs and complexities that would deter more complacent agencies. It has done so by leveraging public (especially state) investment and private sector expertise, particularly around hydrogen technology.
We look forward to following their progress and exploring the impacts to the workforce as they grow.
By Peter Fugiel, Senior Research Specialist