In September 2020, South Coast AQMD was awarded $6 million through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Targeted Airshed Grant program to deploy six hydrogen fuel cell buses at the SunLine Transit Agency (SunLine), a public transit bus service provider in the Coachella Valley. 

To date, the six buses have accumulated nearly one million zero emission miles, generating significant air quality benefits for the residents in the Coachella Valley region. This project is part of SunLine’s commitment to transition their entire fleet to Zero-Emission by 2040 under the California Air Resources Board’s Innovative Clean Transit Regulation. 

SunLine has been an early adopter of advanced public transit technologies and already operates both fuel cell and battery electric buses. SunLine covers 1,120 miles of service area delivering over four million annual passenger trips and operates a total of 32 fuel cell buses, one of the largest fuel cell transit bus fleets in the country. SunLine also built a new liquid hydrogen station in Thousand Palms, adding to their gaseous hydrogen station in the Coachella area to support their operation of fuel cell buses, marking a significant step in SunLine’s continued commitment to providing zero-emission transportation. These public stations provide hydrogen fueling for the Sunline transit buses feet as well as light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles traveling long distances within the State of California as well as interstate through the region since it’s strategically located between Los Angeles, California and Phoenix, Arizona.