The Anonymous Widower

My First Ride In A Hydrogen-Powered Double-Deck Bus

Today, I had my first ride in a hydrogen double-deck bus.

I took these pictures.

Note.

1. I took the No 7 bus in London between Ladbroke Grove tube station and Oxford Circus.
2. There were still some of the older Volvo hybrid buses on the route.
3. The current fleet is around twenty buses.

This article on edie.net, is entitled England’s First Hydrogen Double-Decker Buses Hit The Road In London.

I note this paragraph in the article with interest.

Hydrogen used to fuel the new London buses is being produced at Air Liquide’s facility in Runcorn, Cheshire, which processes waste hydrogen from the industrial chemical industry. From 2023, the facility will be converted to produce only green hydrogen – a term used to describe hydrogen produced using electrolysis powered by renewable electricity.

It sounds, that at present the hydrogen could be coming from the old Castner-Kellner plant at ICI’s Runcorn complex. where I had my first job after leaving Liverpool University in the late 1960s.

These are my thoughts.

Refuelling

The edie article says the buses are refuelled once a day, at a facility at Perivale in Ealing.

Interior Design

Londoners will feel at home in these buses, as they have the same look and feel as London’s other double-deck buses.

But they do have some features, borrowed from other means of transport.

• They have a set of four family seats.
• Are those two yellow bars in front of where I sat a foot rest?
• There were a lot of USB- charger sockets.

It is certainly a well-designed interior.

Battery Or Hydrogen?

In A Trip On An Electric Double Deck Bus On Route 212 Between Chingford And St. James Street Stations, I described a trip on an electric double-deck bus.

I would go for the hydrogen, rather than electric.

A friend who runs a bus company in London, says fleets of battery buses are a nightmare to recharge.

The Edie article says once a day is fine.

The battery bus has a higher environmental footprint.

Hydrogen can fuel trucks, cars, vans and semblances, at the same charging station.

But the big problem is most battery buses are Chinese and Transport for London’s hydrogen buses have been built in Northern Ireland.

Performance

\\\thr performance of the bus was spritely!

Conclusion

This was a good bus!

June 23, 2021 - Posted by AnonW | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | Buses, Hydrogen-Powered Buses, Noise, Wrightbus