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When Hydrogen Buses Meet System 1 Thinking
The psychology of bad transit decisions in an era of clear battery-electric dominance
In recent months I’ve assembled a long, long list of hydrogen bus trials that ended up with the transit agencies realizing what should have been obvious before they started: hydrogen buses are a lot more expensive and battery electric buses are much cheaper and more reliable. More come out of the woodwork regularly, for example Essen and Munheim in Germany, stuck with 19 buses that they have to drive a long way to refuel at great overall expense, something I wrote about this week.
The head of CleanTechnica, Zach Shahan, was stunned by this as he was finalizing the story for publication, asking:
How is the hydrogen bus market not completely dead by now?
Having had the discussion with multiple transit professionals now, I can tell you what I consider the reasons.
First, transit agencies excel at keeping buses moving and commuters satisfied, mastering logistics through decades of practical experience. They are extraordinarily good at moving their passengers reliably day after day, month after month, and year after year on low budgets. Yet, when it comes to evaluating novel claims — especially around emerging technologies — they can…
