As Britain and many areas around the world are still under lockdown and bus manufacturers have their production on hold (except for essential spare parts), Optare and Wrightbus have unveiled their plan to rollout a fleet of hydrogen buses for Britain and Ireland.
Extract from Arcola Energy
Arcola Energy Ltd and Optare Group Ltd today announce the launch of a hydrogen fuel cell double deck bus product for UK and international markets. With both bus and power system built in the UK, the team believes the new bus will make an important contribution to city air quality and a low carbon economic recovery.
Hydrogen fuel cell buses offer a zero-emission “drop-in” replacement for diesel buses. They are especially suited to busy, long-distance, high-capacity routes and complement the use of battery electric buses on shorter routes.
The Metrodecker H2 hydrogen bus product is built on the proven Optare Metrodecker EV platform. It incorporates a hydrogen fuel cell powerpack developed by Arcola Energy as a direct replacement for the battery powerpack in the Metrodecker EV. It can carry more than 90 passengers with a range of between 200 and 250 miles depending on specification and route.
The Metrodecker H2 complements Optare’s existing range of low and zero emission buses. Optare sees a significant export market for fuel cell buses to regions with high ambient temperatures, requiring high air-conditioning power.
The hydrogen fuel cell powertrain in the Metrodecker H2 is part of a family of products developed by Arcola Energy over the past ten years for a wide range of uses including lightweight cars, trucks, off-highway vehicles, buses and trains.
Base vehicles for the Metrodecker H2 will be serially produced at Optare’s factory in Sherburn-in-Elmet, near Leeds, on the existing production lines for the Metrodecker EV. Hydrogen and fuel cell systems will be built by Arcola Energy at their existing Liverpool manufacturing facility, with plans well advanced for a second facility at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc in Dundee.
Dr Ben Todd, CEO of Arcola Energy said:
“Our partnership with Optare is an important step forward, not just for Arcola Energy, but for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle deployment in the UK. The innovative structural design of Optare buses makes them ideally suited to housing zero emission powertrains; and most importantly, to producing buses which we believe will be the safest, most efficient and easiest to maintain in their class“.
Graham Belgum, CEO of Optare Group Ltd commented:
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Arcola on this project. We believe fuel cell technology has the potential to complement Optare’s award winning battery electric vehicle range. We look forward to working closely with Arcola to increase our understanding of the technology and its performance in service. We can see applications for fuel cells on inter urban routes in temperate climates and in high ambient environments where air conditioning is essential and energy consumption is high”.
It’s nice to see Optare joining in with the challenge to roll out hydrogen buses for bus services in Britain and elsewhere.
Jo Bamford unveils his plan to have 3,000 hydrogen buses for Britain by 2024.
"Wrightbus and Ryse Hydrogen outline vision to
create 1,500 jobs and help to unlock zero-emission, green hydrogen
economy. Our world-first hydrogen electric double decker buses emit only
water, and all made in Ballymena".#hydrogen
#transport
#bus
—
Wrightbus (@Wright_bus) April
27, 2020
Extract from Passenger Transport
Plans for a UK-built, 3,000-strong hydrogen bus fleet across the country, have been revealed by Wrightbus owner Jo Bamford today, in a move he hopes can lead the nations’ economic recovery.
The JCB heir claims his plans are “an ideal option for a government that needs to boost UK manufacturing at this critical time whilst radically reducing our carbon emissions and air pollution”, and has already submitted his vision in a document to ministers.
Plans are being drawn up to introduce fleets of state-of-the-art buses – in which passengers benefit from USB charging points and more spacious seating – in places such as Aberdeen, London, Bimingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Brighton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, with interest from relevant authorities.
In Bamford’s vision, 3,000 hydrogen buses – about 10% of the UK’s total fleet – could be silently moving around UK towns and cities by 2024. These vehicles will release only water vapour and save an estimated 280,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent of taking roughly 107,000 cars off the road a year.
Crucially, Bamford highlights, “the hydrogen used to power these vehicles will be completely green”. His company Ryse is in the process of building the UK’s first hydrogen production plant on the Kent coast. This will be powered by a near-by offshore wind farm and use electrolysis to produce hydrogen from water. Bamford plans to build another four hydrogen production plants by 2025 to provide enough power for all 3,000 buses.
“Cities around the world are seeing massive reductions in air pollution as many vehicles have been kept off the road during the pandemic,” said Bamford.
Bamford has set a clear challenge to the government. “The UK missed the opportunity to become global leaders in battery technology, we must not repeat this mistake with hydrogen.”
“We are already leading the world by making hydrogen buses and boilers. We have a real opportunity to back a sector that will create jobs, economic growth and allow us to claim position as global leaders in hydrogen transport technology.
“With countries across the world also looking to drastically cut their carbon emissions, let’s build an industry that can sell zero carbon products, skills and innovation across the world. We can make significant progress on this in the next five years, but it must start with buses and it must start now”.
Bamford has asked the government to set aside £500m – 10% of the National Bus Strategy fund – to unlock the UK’s hydrogen industry. Roughly about £200m of this is needed to build the hydrogen production facilities and bespoke, zero emission transportation vehicles to take it to bus depots in city centres.
Another £300m is called for to subsidise the building of the buses to enable operators to purchase them for the same price as a current diesel one. Bamford said: “The government gives the public a subsidy to buy an electric car, why shouldn’t a bus operator – who provides a vital service for the local community – be supported to buy a clean, green, UK-built hydrogen bus?”.
Jo Bamford also has a vision of having 12,000 hydrogen buses on the island of Ireland.
Extract from Irish Independent
THE new owner of manufacturer Wrightbus says 12,000 buses on the island of Ireland as well as trains could be replaced with hydrogen engines to usher in a new era of environmentally friendly transport.
"Say you have 12,000 buses on the island," said Jo Bamford, executive chairman of the historic bus-builder.
"My plan is to decarbonise all buses and all trains.
"Though to fill them up with hydrogen, you need to put money down to build infrastructure.
"Wouldn't it be amazing to have some green solutions coming out of this?"
He said that his vision for an all-Ireland hydrogen strategy would result in cross-Border transport such as the Enterprise train from Belfast to Dublin running on hydrogen - which can power longer journeys than battery power.
He said that ultimately, all trains and buses would be decarbonised.
He said he was yet to start talks with the authorities in the Republic.
Conclusion
Unfortunately there’s no news update on the rollout of 20 double deck hydrogen buses for London service and according to the Government contracts website the contract ended on 3rd March 2020.
We may see a possibility of Wrightbus unveiling their new double deck design with New Routemaster style design. According to Jo Bamford’s Hydrogen distribution company Ryse Hydrogen, in the video on the website you see a graphic of the double decker bus with design cues from the New Routemaster.
Going back to my previous article from January, I’ve shown extracts of the document titled ‘Mayoral meeting with London bus manufacturers’ which was held on 25 February 2015. The document stated “It is unrealistic for competing companies to share too much of their plans for the future but there is evidence of them working to compete in styling terms to ensure the product is as exciting to see as New Routemaster.”
As new buses have to be in line with TfL’s Bus Safety Standard for London service, we could see the possibility of Optare refreshing their double deck design to make it suitable for London service.
There’s still no update from Alexander Dennis on their double deck hydrogen bus project, although they have been making progress with the rollout of the battery electric Enviro400EV with the City bodywork which comes as standard for the product. Unfortunately, the rollout of the new vehicles is currently paused due to the pandemic.
I hope to see bus manufacturers Alexander Dennis, Optare and Wrightbus get a fair share of the fund from the Government to roll out new zero-emission electric and hydrogen vehicles for bus services in Britain.
I’m also hopeful that the Euro Bus Expo 2020 won’t be cancelled due to the pandemic because the event is scheduled to be held on Tuesday 3rd of November through to Thursday 5th November 2020.
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