Noelle Gaffney, a spokeswoman for the CTA, said the tests are going well, but no commitment has been made to put more buses on the road. However, U.S. petroleum giants will be keeping a close watch on how the fuel cell system performs in California. We have to be ready to see how we can work with governments and the auto industry to make sure that we are still in the equation somewhere. If the fuel cells run on hydrogen, Mr. Langland said there are technologies available to produce that sort of fuel through petroleum- based products. A key question is how the companies plan to produce the hydrogen needed to generate the electric power that will propel the car, said Charles Ward, a University of Toronto professor who has worked with Toyota Motor Corp. on producing a fuel system for that auto maker's fuel cell program.
Fuel cells create electric power by combining hydrogen and oxygen.
Auto industry sources said they think the vehicles will be fuelled with methanol that will be reformulated into hydrogen in the engine, rather than hydrogen itself. Prof. Ward said, but at least the creation of a methanol fuel infrastructure is less costly than establishing a network of hydrogen stations around North America. Auto industry analysts played down the significance of the announcement. 1979 Company founded as Ballard Research Inc. by Dr. Geoffrey Ballard. 1998 Ballard buses begin fleet trials in Chicago.