Wrightbus Secures Further German Order For 46 Hydrogen Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Wrightbus.
These paragraphs outline the deal.
World-beating zero-emission bus manufacturer Wrightbus today announced a milestone deal to provide 46 hydrogen buses to Germany – taking a demo bus from Belfast to showcase its reliability and range.
The buses ordered by Cottbusverkehr GmbH will serve the city of Cottbus, the second largest city in the state of Brandenburg, and and in the western part of the district of Spree-Neiße.
It follows a landmark announcement by the German government to implement a €350 million scheme to support the production of renewable hydrogen.
Wrightbus is Europe’s fastest-growing bus manufacturer and follows the company’s rapid rise since it was bought out of administration in 2019. It was named Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing company by Growth Index this week – employing 1,650 people and producing 22 buses a week.
The Cottbus order for the Kite Hydroliner buses follow deals in Germany with West Verkehr, Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH (RVK), and Saarbahn GmbH, with more European orders in the pipeline.
If Northern Irish hydrogen buses are selling well to the Germans, why are there so few in the UK.
These pictures show the UK version of the German buses in Crawley.
They are excellent buses.
The Anonymous Widower 
Why are there less hydrogen buses in UK, the British government aren’t prioritising spending taxpayers money on projects involving hydrogen in public transport. I think they’re right
The background to the buses going to Cottbus as opposed to anywhere else in Germany? In a press release issued by Brandenburg Technische Universitat they mention that as part of a joint project known as Mukran, “six partner institutions from industry and science, including the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), are developing new, mobile hydrogen sphere storage systems. The project is part of the TransHyDE hydrogen lead project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF.
Comment by fammorris | April 26, 2024 |
It may be that Wrightbus sell well in Germany because Northern Ireland is effectively in the EU single market, while other UK manufacturers have to compete with EU competitors with one hand tied behind their back.
Comment by JohnC | April 26, 2024 |
This page has the full specification.
https://wrightbus.com/en-gb/gb-kite-hydroliner-fcev
It’s got German ZF front and rear axles and a 30-45 kWh French battery. Its electric sister has 340kWh, 454kWh or 567kWh batteries. How much weight does the tiny battery save!
The Canadian Ballard fuel-cell is only 70 KW, so it sounds like the bus is very efficient. Wrightbus’s single-deck diesel buses have 200+ KW engines.
This is also said.
The world is looking for innovative ways to combat climate change, and this zero-emission option could be vital in the fight against global warming. Aside from helping to meet zero-emission targets, hydrogen buses are also gaining popularity due to their world-class features and low operating costs.
Based on this rate of expansion, it’s not too early to predict that hydrogen buses will soon dominate the public transportation market.
They certainly are an excellent bus.
Comment by AnonW | April 26, 2024 |
Most of the Crawley H busses are sitting idle due to the fact Metrobus haven’t been given authority to have larger capacity hydrogen storage on the site and until that permission is granted and the facility built those buses are just sitting idle somewhere.
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | April 26, 2024 |