CHICAGO – The 2008 Hydrogen Road Tour arrived at the SunLine Transit Terminal in Thousand Palms, Calif., last week to fuel a caravan of hydrogen vehicles on the final leg of a cross country journey stretching from Portland, Maine to Los Angeles.

The event showcased a fleet of hydrogen-powered vehicles, demonstrating the commercial viability of hydrogen-based fuel. As the Road Tour made its way to Los Angeles, SunLine's Hydrogen Fuel Cell bus, one of two in SunLine's fleet that services the Coachella Valley, showed hydrogen technology is no longer a futuristic concept.

SunLine is home to Eden Hydrogen's HyRadix hydrogen reformer, enabling third-party refueling of commercial vehicles. The HyRadix reformer supplied fuel to nine of the Road Tour's gaseous hydrogen vehicles.

"The key to accelerating public acceptance of alternative fuel vehicles is to show they are in active use today," said SunLine General Manager C. Mikel Oglesby. "This is the inspiration behind the Road Tour."

 "The technology to put these kinds of vehicles on the road — and keep them moving — exists today. The question is not if hydrogen-powered vehicles will be commercially available, but when," said Paul Brubaker, with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration.  

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