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The Hydrolley: Revolutionizing Urban Transit with Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Discover why streetcars are making a comeback with the innovative Hydrolley, offering cost-effective, sustainable, and efficient transit solutions. Join the conversation today!

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The Hydrolley: Revolutionizing Urban Transit with Hydrogen Fuel Cells

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  1. INTRODUCING THEHYDROLLEY by Stan Thompson—volunteer, HEAT, the Hydrogen Economy Advancement Team, Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corporation Mooresville, North Carolina USA

  2. WHY STREETCARS ARE BEING REINTRODUCED • Developers are willing to commit capital to business and residential construction on fixed rail transit lines. • This creates urban demographics not dependent on car ownership. • Higher density means much lower infrastructure cost per capita. • Streetcars are widely thought of as being “up-market” from buses; draw more riders.

  3. Somewhere between these pictures...

  4. ...and this picture is the reality of overhead trolley electrification. Hydrogen fuel cell hydrolleys won’t need it.

  5. THE HYDROLLEY DIFFERENCE • on-board fuel cells eliminate the need for overhead power, leaving utility plant “buried in peace.” • no poles, catenaries or guy wires • no substations • no complex grounding • much less exposure to rising copper prices

  6. HYDROLLEY ADVANTAGES: • Avoids US$1.5 - 2 million capital investment per mile of track by eliminating track electrification. • Avoids interference problems when tall equipment like cranes must be moved around the city. • Eliminates the maintenance costs, shock hazards, weather and security vulnerability of overhead power systems.

  7. MORE STREETCARS,SOONER: • Substantially reduced fixed plant cost “lowers the funding bar.” • The hydrolley’s clean, hi-tech verve can attract young and Green ridership. • If cities now planning streetcar systems make common cause together, R&D and manufacturing can proceed more rapidly.

  8. HISTORY FORCES THE ISSUE: • Once the first hydrolley is deployed anywhere, catenary plant and trolley rolling stock sources may begin to dry-up. • Like the steam -to-diesel transition, change tends to strand the last old-tech investment, undepreciated and short-lived. • Needed: a reasoned, generally accepted, hydrolley introduction plan and national policies.

  9. THE NATURE OF TECHNOLOGY CHANGE: TRANSITION IS A DANGEROUS, AMBIGUOUS TIME. AT SOME POINT, THE REAL FINANCIAL RISK OF HESITATING IS GREATER THAN THE RISK OF INNOVATING, BUT SEEMS LESS SCARY.

  10. “It seemed like a good idea... ... at the time.” National Railway Museum, York, UK

  11. SOME PENALTIES OF HYDROLLEY LINES: • Requires a fueling infrastructure not needed by overhead trolleys. • Carries on-board fuel, makes fueling stops, fueling requires some labor. • The regulatory world is geared to heritage trolley technology. • The Hindenburg myth refuses to die.

  12. HYDROLLEY UNKNOWNS: • Can present electrified rail lines be extended without catenaries by adding hydrolley equipment or developing double power systems (trolley in town, hydrolley beyond)? • Can abandoned freight spurs economically become hydrolley lines, where electrification would have been cost-prohibitive?

  13. VEHICLE OPTIONS: • New-from-the-ground-up hydrolleys (the Mooresville, NC, USA Proterra product as contemplated) • Heritage retrofit to hydrolley tech (pioneered in Surrey, BC, CA) • Heritage replica hydrolleys designed new around hydrail technology; produced and parts-supported in volume for the charm factor. • Mixed fleet: heritage and modern equipment on same line.

  14. SOME ANTICIPATED HYDROLLEY APPLICATIONS (AS PROPOSED FOR CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, USA)

  15. JOIN THE WORLD HYDROLLEY CONVERSATION: for general hydrail information, including hydrolleys: Stan Thompson - Hydrogen Economy Advancement Team 518 Beaten Path Road, Mooresville, NC, 28117-8982 USA h/o: +704 664-5486 cellular: +704 458-9410 email: hst2nd@aol.com for technical information on hydrolley applications: Dale Hill, CEO Proterra LLC, Golden, Colorado, USA +303 562-0525 email: dale@mesbus.com

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