Boondoggle or boon? Looking back at Whistler’s hydrogen-bus pilot and why it failed
Published March 10, 2021
BC Hydro/Handout
When the world came to Whistler in 2010, it got a glimpse of a hydrogen-powered future.
In time for the Olympics, the resort town got a fleet of 20 hydrogen fuel-cell buses.
Four years after the games, the zero-emissions fleet was sold and replaced with natural-gas-powered buses.
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Critics called it a $94-million boondoggle.
But Whistler’s pilot paved the way for more than 3,000 hydrogen buses on roads worldwide today, even though we don’t have any in Canada yet, a hydrogen industry expert said.