CAT to break ground with bus powered by zinc-air battery

In nine months, Clark County's Citizens Area Transit system will become the first in the world to add a zinc-air battery-operated bus to its fleet.

The Regional Transportation Commission agreed Thursday to allow the Las Vegas-based Center for Sustainable Technology outfit a bus with the environmentally safe power source.

"We've used it in vans and trucks, but this is the first large transit bus in the world," said Kenneth Partain, president of the Center for Sustainable Technology.

The Federal Transportation Administration dedicated $2 million to clean-air technological research and two companies -- Partain's and Electric Power Research of California -- matched it with another $2 million to start the zinc-air battery demonstration projects.

Las Vegas is a prime city in which to demonstrate the new bus because several technology conventions are held here, perhaps allowing Partain's group to be more successful in marketing the zinc-air bus.

Partain said zinc-air batteries emit oxygen and are "100 percent environmentally benign."

Stan Wilkerson, spokesman for the Regional Transportation Commission, said the zinc-air bus will run regular routes. Aside from the quieter ride, passengers may never even realize they are on a different bus.

"We want to make sure it works in all situations," Wilkerson said. "We want zero emissions and we're looking to incorporate them into our fleet."

The zinc-air battery, which was developed by Electric Fuel Corp. of New York, previously has been tested in Mercedes vehicles. In November, a battery-operated van set an endurance record by traveling 272 miles from London to Paris on a single charge.

archive