The Anonymous Widower

Could Wrightbus’s New Hydrogen Coach Do A London Scotland Round Trip On A Full Load Of Hydrogen?

Victoria Coach Station And Edinburgh

I have just looked up on the National Express web site and found that I can leave Victoria Coach Station at 22:00 and arrive in Edinburgh at 07:40 the following morning for a ticket price of £29.90.

The road distance would appear to be 638.1 km, which would be a 1276 km round trip. So I would expect that, there would need to be refueling in the round trip.

Victoria Coach Station And Glasgow

I have just looked up on the National Express web site and found that I can leave Victoria Coach Station at 23:00 and arrive in Glasgow at 07:40 the following morning for a ticket price of £23.90.

The road distance would appear to be 652.1 km, which would be a 1300 km round trip. So as with Edinburgh, I would expect that, there would need to be refueling in the round trip.

A Refuelling Strategy

Consider.

• I would expect that a refuelling strategy would minimise, the carrying of large amounts of hydrogen, through the centre of London or any other conurbation.
• The Southern Uplands of Scotland already host a lot of wind farms, including the UK’s largest onshore wind farm at Whitelee, which has a capacity of  539 MW.
• An electrolyser to produce hydrogen is being developed at Whitelee, which is 32.8 km South of Glasgow.
• Newport Pagnell services is 86.5 km. from the Southern end of the M1.
• Toddington services is 62 km. from the Southern end of the M1.

I wonder if two refuelling points, say 50-100 km. from each end of the route, would be a safe an efficient way to fuel the coaches?

Some Services Between London And Scotland

They are in South to North order.

Toddington Services

Toddington Services is 62 km. from the Southern end of the M1.

This map shows the services.

Note.

1. There is land around the services that could be used to create more parking for hydrogen coaches.
2. There doesn’t appear to be much space for a large wind farm to provide electricity to generate hydrogen.
3. The Midland Main Line runs up the Eastern side of the map.

I wonder, if hydrogen could be brought to a refuelling site at Toddington services by the use of rail wagons.

Newport Pagnell Services

Newport PagnellServices is 86.5 km. from the Southern end of the M1.

This map shows the services.

Note.

1. The services are labelled as Leicester Forest East.
2. The services are tightly surrounded by houses.

I’m not sure the residents would like to have a hydrogen refuelling station in their midst.

Northampton Services

Northampton Services is 104.5 km. from the Southern end of the M1.

This map shows the services.

Note.

1. It looks a rather complicated services.
2. It might be too far from London.
3. Provision of hydrogen might be difficult.

I think that this is another services that we can discount.

Watford Gap Services

Watford Gap Services is 120.8 km. from the Southern end of the M1.

This map shows the services.

Note.

1. There is land around the services that could be used to create more parking for hydrogen coaches.
2. There doesn’t appear to be much space for a large wind farm to provide electricity to generate hydrogen.
3. The West Coast Main Line runs through the centre of the services.

I wonder, if hydrogen could be brought to a refuelling site at Watford Gap services by the use of rail wagons.

Rugby Services

Rugby Services is 137.8 km. from the Southern end of the M1.

This map shows the services.

Note.

1. There is land around the services that could be used to create more parking for hydrogen coaches.
2. It is at Junction 1 of the M6.

There is also a gas compressor station nearby, so I wonder, if a HiiROC system could be located here to extract hydrogen from the natural gas.

This map shows the location of the Churchover compressor station, with relation to Rugby services.

Note.

1. The compressor station is in the North-West corner of the map.
2. Rugby services are in the South-East corner of the map.
3. From labels on the map it appears, a solar farm might be planned by the compressor station.

With a system like HiiROC creating turquoise hydrogen from natural gas, this could be a major filling station for hydrogen-powered trucks, coaches and cars.

Conclusion

It looks to me, that Toddington services would be best, but there would need to be a large increase in capacity, if a large number of hydrogen coaches, were going to fill up at Toddington for their trip into London.

The alternative would be to give the coach a large enough hydrogen tank for a complete round trip.

 

March 7, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | Glasgow, HiiROC, Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen-Powered Coaches, M1 Motorway, M6 Motorway, Midland Main Line, National Express, Natural Gas, Newport Pagnell Services, Northampton Services, Rugby Services, Toddington Services, Turquoise Hydrogen, Victoria Coach Station, Watford Gap Services, Whitelee Wind Farm, Wrightbus Hydrogen-Powered Coach