[ti:Brazil Launches First Fuel Cell Bus in Latin America]
[ar:VOA]
[al:Development Report]
[by:51VOA.COM]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English 
[00:02.26]Development Report.
[00:04.05]If you travel by bus in Sao Paulo, 
[00:08.37]Brazil these days your vehicle 
[00:10.81]may be powered by hydrogen fuel cells. 
[00:14.60]The city's urban transportation system recently 
[00:18.63]launched the first of up to five hydrogen buses.  
[00:23.36]The hydrogen reacts with oxygen 
[00:26.50]to produce electricity and water.
[00:30.09]The bus uses a hybrid system 
[00:33.74]that combines the hydrogen fuel cells 
[00:37.37]with high power batteries. 
[00:39.46]It can be driven three hundred kilometers 
[00:43.40]on the hydrogen cell 
[00:45.29]and an additional fifty kilometers 
[00:48.18]on its batteries.
[00:50.62]The bus carries passengers 
[00:53.31]in communities around Sao Paulo. 
[00:56.43]The United Nations Development Program, 
[00:59.47]the World Bank and other private, 
[01:03.00]public and international groups 
[01:05.99]supported the project.
[01:07.78]Project official Carlos Zundt says 
[01:12.17]the bus is the first of its kind 
[01:14.85]in Latin America. 
[01:16.36]Mister Zundt says the vehicle releases 
[01:19.61]only water vapor and is totally clean." 
[01:24.59]Traditional buses that run on diesel fuel 
[01:29.17]release harmful carbon dioxide 
[01:32.51]and other pollutants.  
[01:35.00]Most buses around the world run on diesel fuel. 
[01:40.18]Mister Zundt says diesel vehicles 
[01:43.61]are the main cause of air pollution in Sao Paulo.
[01:47.71]The cost of the bus has not been announced.
[01:53.17]Hydrogen fuel cell buses cost more 
[01:56.43]than traditional buses. 
[01:58.87]But Mister Zundt says reducing air pollution 
[02:02.60]and acid rain will reduce respiratory illnesses 
[02:07.68]for people in the city. 
[02:10.01]In addition, the new bus is very quiet 
[02:14.01]and does not produce noise pollution. 
[02:18.00]Mister Zundt says a hydrogen bus 
[02:21.68]will last an average of twenty years, 
[02:25.31]while a diesel bus can be used 
[02:28.15]for five to eight years.
[02:30.79]Sao Paulo has almost twenty million people. 
[02:35.17]Almost half of them ride buses every day. 
[02:38.95]Brazil has a large, modern and competitive bus industry. 
[02:45.88]It is one of the top producers in the world. 
[02:50.26]The project hopes to export 
[02:53.94]hydrogen fuel cell buses in the future.
[02:57.72]A Brazilian report says that Brazil
[03:02.40]is one of five countries that have developed such buses.  
[03:07.18]The others are the United States, China, Germany and Japan.
[03:15.34]But not everyone sees the hydrogen fuel cell bus 
[03:20.01]as the hope of the future. 
[03:21.86]Critics note the high cost of producing hydrogen.  
[03:26.98]And they say other kinds of energy choices 
[03:30.86]can provide power for buses.
[03:34.67]And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, 
[03:42.33]written by Jerilyn Watson. 
[03:46.16]Transcripts and podcasts of our reports are at 51voa.com.