Ballard’s 500 Fuel Cell Deal Meets A Hydrogen Bus Market That Never Arrived - CleanTechnica

The article discusses a recent announcement by Ballard Power and New Flyer regarding a commercial arrangement for 500 fuel cell engines intended for hydrogen transit buses starting in 2026. While this sounds like a significant market commitment, the deal is described more as an aspirational framework than a firm purchase order or backlog. The North American hydrogen transit bus market remains small and uneven, with annual orders peaking at 288 buses in 2023 but expected to decline sharply to 45 by 2025. This limited demand contrasts with the impression given by aggregated data sources that mix buses ordered, funded, delivered, or deployed, which tend to overstate market size and stability. The article highlights that the hydrogen bus market is heavily concentrated in California, which accounts for about 80% of the U.S. pipeline of fuel cell buses, with only a small number spread across other states. Despite subsidies like the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act supporting hydrogen technologies, enthusiasm and orders for hydrogen buses have cooled rapidly since