Wrightbus: Ballymena Company Gets Order For 117 Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
County Antrim firm Wrightbus has secured a £25.3m order to build 117 zero-emission buses for use in England
And this is the first paragraph.
Operated by First Bus, the vehicles will be used in Yorkshire, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampshire.
They don’t say, whether the buses are battery or hydrogen powered.
Ballymena: Wrightbus To Develop Hydrogen Production Facility
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Wrightbus is planning to develop a green hydrogen production facility at its factory in Ballymena.
And these first three paragraphs outline the project.
The proposal is being made in partnership with a sister company, Hygen Energy.
Part of the Wrightbus business is the manufacturing of hydrogen-powered buses, some of which are operated by Translink.
The new facility would help create a reliable source of fuel for those buses and other hydrogen-powered vehicles.
It seems a well-designed project and it appears Hygen are building a similar facility in Bradford.
Some months ago, I had a drink in my house, with three senior London bus company executives.
One has had problems with electric buses, as getting the required power to charge a fleet in some Central London garages is not easy.
I showed them these figures, from the Wrightbus web site.
- A Wrightbus electric double-decker takes 2.5 hours to charge for a 200 mile range.
- A hydrogen double-decker takes 8 minutes to refuel with up to a 280 miles range.
They were impressed. Especially, as a typical duty for a bus in London is almost 200 miles. A hydrogen bus seemed to make a lot more sense.
So why isn’t London preparing for scores of hydrogen buses?
Ask the Mayor!
Wrightbus Hydrogen Fleet Cover 1,5 Million Miles
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Central.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Leading bus manufacturer Wrightbus’s fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell buses have travelled a staggering 1.5 million miles since first entering service.
This latest milestone from the Ballymena-based firm means the hydrogen fuel-cell fleet has prevented 2,366 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions entering the atmosphere compared to journeys made by an equivalent diesel bus.
It does appear that the company is on the road to a much needed recovery.
Government Boosts Hydrogen Buses With £26m
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Live ~News.
These are the first two paragraphs.
A Northern Irish bus company is receiving £26 million in funding to build electric and hydrogen buses.
Wrightbus built the world’s first hydrogen double-decker bus in 2020 and is now looking to export its zero-emission buses worldwide to Australia, Germany, Italy, France and Spain.
Other points from the article include.
- Wrightbus are aiming to build 3,000 zero-emission buses.
- Jobs could increase by 300.
- They would like to increase exports by 40 %.
It looks like there’s a future in zero-emission buses.
BP To Charge Up Vehicle Battery Research
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the title on a stock picture at the top of the page.
BP, whose profits benefited from soaring oil and gas prices, plans to invest heavily in research to develop solutions to help to decarbonise the transport sector.
I’m unsure about the picture, but it could be a number of buses or trucks connected to a large battery.
This press release on the BP web site, is the original source for The Times article and it is entitled BP To Invest Up To £50 million In New Global Battery Research And Development Centre In Britain.
The press release starts with these bullet points.
- bp continuing to invest in the UK, with new investment of up to £50 million for new electric vehicle battery testing centre and analytical laboratory in Pangbourne.
- Aims to advance development of engineering, battery technology and fluid technology and engineering into new applications such as electric vehicles, charging and data centres.
- New facilities at its Castrol headquarters and technology centre expected to open in 2024, supporting the technology, engineering and science jobs housed there today.
I find these sentences interesting.
new applications such as electric vehicles, charging and data centres
This sentence is a bit of a mess as electric vehicles are not new, charging is well established and what have data centres got to do with batteries.
I have a friend, who runs a large fleet of electric buses and charging is a problem, as getting the required number of MWhs to the garage can be a problem in a crowded city.
But could it be, that BP are thinking of a battery-based solution, that trickle-charges when electricity is affordable and then charges buses or other vehicles as required, throughout the day?
I believe that a battery based on process engineering like Highview Power’s CRYOBattery could be ideal in this situation.
- Effectively, the bus garage or transport parking would have its own high capacity battery-powered charging network.
- The storage capacity of the battery would be geared to the daily charge load of the vehicles.
- It would reduce the cost of electricity to the operator.
Such a battery might also be ideal to power a battery charging station.
I don’t know much about data centres, except that they need a lot of electricity.
Would driving data centres from a battery, that was trickle-charged overnight mean that the cost of electricity was reduced?
bp today unveiled plans to invest up to £50 million (around $60 million) in a new, state-of-the-art electric vehicle (EV) battery testing centre and analytical laboratory in the UK
There are a lot of battery ideas in the pipeline, so will one of the tasks be to find the best batteries for BP’s needs?
The site already undertakes research and development of fuels, lubricants and EV fluids and aims to become a leading hub for fluid technologies and engineering in the UK
You don’t think of lubricants being associated with electric vehicles, but obviously BP thinks it’s a serious enough topic to do some research.
The new facilities will help advance the development of leading fluid technologies and engineering for hybrid and fully battery electric vehicles, aiming to bring the industry closer to achieving the key tipping points for mainstream electric vehicle (EV) adoption.
This is self-explanatory.
Castrol ON advanced e-fluids manage temperatures within the battery which enables ultra-fast charging and improves efficiency, which help EVs to go further on a single charge and extend the life of the drivetrain system
Lubrication helps the world go round.
In addition, the advanced e-fluid technologies and engineering can be applied to other industries such as thermal management fluids for data centres where demand is rising exponentially
This is an interesting application and it will become increasingly important.
The growth of EV fluids is a huge opportunity, and we aim to be the market leader in this sector
I didn’t realise that EV fluids were so important.
The press release says this about the current status.
Two thirds of the world’s major car manufacturers use Castrol ON EV fluids as a part of their factory fill and we also supply Castrol ON EV fluids to the Jaguar TCS Racing Formula E team.
This press release on the Castrol web site is entitled CASTROL ON: Range Of Advanced E-Fluids For Mobility On Land, Sea And In Space.
This is the Castrol ON E-Fluids home page.
Where Will BP Need Batteries?
I can see the following applications are in BP’s sight from this press release.
- Charging fleets of buses and trucks at their garage.
- Powering battery-charging stations at filling stations.
- Providing uninterruptable electricity feeds.
- Powering data centres.
I will give a simple example.
Suppose a bus company wants to electrify the buses in a town.
- They will have thirty double-deck buses each with a 500 kWh battery.
- Wrightbus electric buses charge at 150 kW.
- Charging all buses at the same time would need 4.5 MW
- Each bus will need to be charged overnight and once during the day.
- This means the bus company will need 30 MWh of power per day.
- The largest wind turbines today are around 12 MW and have a capacity factor of 30 %.
- A single turbine could be expected to generate 86 MWh per day.
It looks to me, that a battery in the garage which could provide an output of 5 MW and had a capacity of 100 MWh would link everything together and support the following.
- A fleet of thirty buses.
- All buses charged overnight and at one other time.
- A 12 MW wind turbine.
- Power for the offices and other facilities.
- The battery would provide backup, when there is no wind.
- There would also be a mains connection to the battery for use, when the wind turbine failed.
The size of the battery and the turbine would depend on the number of vehicles and how often, they were to be charged.
BP could replace diesel sales to the bus or transport company, with leasing of a zero-carbon charging system.
Simple systems based on one or two wind turbines, solar panels and a battery would have several applications.
- Charging fleets of buses and trucks at their garage.
- Powering battery-charging stations at filling stations.
- Providing uninterruptable electricity feeds.
- Powering data centres
- Powering farms
- Powering new housing estates
- Powering factories
I can see this becoming a big market, that big energy companies will target.
Are BP planning to develop systems like this, as many of those, who might buy a system, are already their customers?
Choosing the best batteries and designing the system architecture would appear to be within the remit of the new Research Centre at Pangbourne.
Supporting Wind Farms
BP could certainly use a 2.5 GW/30 GWh battery at each of the three large wind farms; Mona, Morgan and Morven, that they are developing in the Irish Sea and off Aberdeen. These wind farms total 5.9 GW and a battery at each one, perhaps co-located with the offshore sub-station could mean that 5.9 GW was much more continuous.
The wind farms would be like virtual nuclear power stations, without any nuclear fuel or waste.
It would also mean that if the wind farm wasn’t needed and was told to switch off, the electricity generated could be stored in BP’s battery.
How many of BP’s other developments around the world could be improved with a co-located battery?
Process Technology
I am very keen on Highview Power’s CRYOBattery, but I do think that some parts of the design could benifit from the sort of technology that BP has used offshore and in the oil industry.
So will BP’s new battery research include offering advice to promising start-ups?
Rolls-Royce To Develop mtu Hydrogen Electrolyser And Invest In Hoeller Electrolyser
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Rolls-Royce.
These are the three main points in the press release.
- Holdings in start-up companies in northern Germany secure Rolls-Royce Power Systems access to key green hydrogen production technology.
- Electrolysis systems for several megawatts of power.
- First demonstrator in 2023 using a Hoeller stack.
This is the introductory paragraph to the deal.
Rolls-Royce is entering the hydrogen production market and acquiring a 54% majority stake in electrolysis stack specialist Hoeller Electrolyzer, whose innovative technology will form the basis of a new range of mtu electrolyzer products from its Power Systems division. Hoeller Electrolyzer, based in Wismar, Germany, is an early-stage technology company that is developing highly efficient polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) stacks, under the brand name Prometheus, for the cost-effective production of hydrogen.
This page on the Hoeller Electrolysis web site gives details of Prometheus.
- Hoeller are planning small, medium and large electrolyser modules, the largest of which is rated at 1.4 MW.
- Load changes of between 0 and 100 % within seconds.
- Cold start capability.
- It will produce 635 Kg/day.
- They are talking of a cost of 4€/Kg.
It all sounds good to me.
This paragraph is from the press release.
Founded in 2016, Hoeller Electrolyzer has positioned itself, with Prometheus, as one of the few highly specialized expert players in the field of high-efficiency PEM electrolysis stacks. Its founder, Stefan Höller, has more than a quarter of a century’s experience of developing electrolysis technology and has already registered 14 patents connected with Prometheus. Particularly high efficiency is promised by special surface technologies for the bipolar plates which significantly reduce the use of expensive precious metals platinum and iridium as catalysts, as well as increased output pressure.
I know a small amount about electrolysis and feel that Rolls-Royce may have got themselves a high-class deal.
Rolls-Royce’s large German presence in companies like mtu, will also help to smooth any doubts about the deal.
This paragraph indicates a shared belief.
Rolls-Royce and Hoeller Electrolyzer are united by a shared belief in the opportunity of zero-carbon energy – both for power supply and the propulsion of heavy vehicles. With decades of experience and systems expertise, Rolls-Royce is going to develop a complete electrolyzer system and has a global sales and service network, which opens up the potential for significant worldwide sales.
But perhaps, this is the most significant paragraph of the press release.
Armin Fürderer, who heads up the Net Zero Solutions business unit of Power Systems, said: “We’re going to launch electrolyzers with several megawatts of power right from the start. A total output of over 100 megawatts is conceivable by combining several electrolyzers.”
A quick search of the Internet, indicates that 100 MW is the size of the world’s largest electrolysers.
Applications
I can see applications for these large electrolysers.
Rolls-Royce Power Systems
This is a sentence from the press release.
Hoeller Electrolyzer, whose innovative technology will form the basis of a new range of mtu electrolyzer products from its Power Systems division.
The Rolls-Royce Power Systems web site, has this mission statement.
The Power Systems Business Unit of Rolls-Royce is focused on creating sustainable, climate neutral solutions for drive, propulsion and power generation.
In Rolls-Royce Makes Duisburg Container Terminal Climate Neutral With MTU Hydrogen Technology, I describe one of Rolls-Royce Power Systems projects.
The title of this post, is the same as this press release from Rolls-Royce.
This is the first sentence.
Rolls-Royce will ensure a climate-neutral energy supply at the container terminal currently under construction at the Port of Duisburg, Germany.
There is also this Rolls-Royce graphic, which shows the energy sources.
It would appear batteries, combined heap and power (CHP), grid electricity, hydrogen electrolyser, hydrogen storage and renewable electricity are being brought together to create a climate-neutral energy system.
Note.
- The system uses a large hydrogen electrolyser.
- I suspect the hydrogen will be generated by off-peak electricity and local renewables.
- Hydrogen will probably power the container handling machines, ships, trucks, vehicles and other equipment in the port.
Hydrogen appears to be used as a means of storing energy and also for providing motive power.
I would suspect, the ultimate aim is that the port will not emit any carbon dioxide.
Other ports like Felixstowe and Holyhead seem to be going the hydrogen route.
Refuelling Hydrogen Buses and Charging Electric Buses
If you look at the Duisburg system, I can imagine a similar smaller system being used to refuel hydrogen buses and charge electric ones.
- The hydrogen electrolyser would be sized to create enough hydrogen for a day or so’s work.
- Hydrogen would be generated by off-peak electricity and local renewables.
- If an operator bought more buses, I’m certain that the architecture of the electrolyser would allow expansion.
- Hydrogen fuel cells would boost the electricity supply, when lots of buses needed to be charged.
- Any spare hydrogen could be sold to those who have hydrogen-powered vehicles.
- Any spare electricity could be sold back to the grid.
It should be noted that manufacturers like Wrightbus have developed a range of hydrogen and electric buses that use the same components. So will we see more mixed fleets of buses, where the best bus is assigned to each route?
I have used buses as an example, but the concept would apply to fleets of cars, trucks and vans.
Green Hydrogen
Large efficient electrolysers will surely be the key to producing large quantities of green hydrogen in the future.
It appears that about 55 MWh is needed to produce a tonne of green hydrogen using existing electrolysers.
The Hoeller electrolyser appears to be about 53 MWh, so it is more efficient.
Green Hydrogen From An Onshore Wind Farm
If you look at the average size of an onshore wind farm in the UK, a quick estimate gives a figure of 62 MW. I shouldn’t expect the figure for much of the world is very different, where you ignore the gigafarms, as these will distort the numbers.
An appropriately-sized electrolyser could be added to onshore wind farms to provide a local source of hydrogen for transport, an industrial process or a domestic gas supply for a new housing estate.
A single 5 MW wind turbine with a capacity factor of around 30 % would produce around 680 Kg of green hydrogen per day.
Green Hydrogen From An Offshore Wind Farm
There are basic methods to do this.
Put the electrolyser onshore or put the electrolyser offshore and pipe the hydrogen to the shore.
I think we will see some innovative configurations.
In ScotWind N3 Offshore Wind Farm, I described how Magnora ASA are developing the ScotWind N3 wind farm.
The floating turbines surround a concrete floater, which in the future could contain an electrolyser and tankage for hydrogen.
The ScotWind N3 wind farm is designed to be a wind farm rated at 500 MW.
I can see an electrolyser on the floater, of an optimal size to make sure all electricity is used.
Pink Hydrogen
Pink hydrogen, is zero-carbon hydrogen produced using nuclear-generated electricity.
There are industrial processes, like the making of zero-carbon chemicals, concrete and steel, that will require large quantities of zero-carbon green or pink hydrogen.
Rolls-Royce are developing the Rolls-Royce SMR, which will be a 470 MW small modular nuclear reactor.
One of these placed near to a steel works and coupled to one or more 100 MW electrolysers could provide enough zero-carbon electricity and hydrogen to produce large quantities of zero-carbon green steel.
Manufacturing
Rolls-Royce and their subsidiaries like mtu, seem to be extensive users of advanced manufacturing techniques and I would expect that they can improve Hoeller’s manufacturing.
Research And Development
The press release says this about the founder of Hoeller.
Its founder, Stefan Höller, has more than a quarter of a century’s experience of developing electrolysis technology and has already registered 14 patents connected with Prometheus.
If Rolls-Royce can develop and support Stefan Höller and his team, development could easily go to a higher level.
Conclusion
I think that Rolls-Royce have taken over a company, that will in the end, will design excellent efficient electrolysers.
West Midlands To Run ‘Largest Hydrogen Bus Fleet’ Due To New Funding
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are a few points from the article.
- The region is set to get 124 new hydrogen vehicles.
- The West Midlands is set to run the UK’s largest hydrogen bus fleet after securing new funding.
- The region will get 124 new buses after it won £30m from the Department for Transport to fund a switchover.
- Twenty four of the new vehicles will be articulated tram-style buses set to run on a new bus priority route between Walsall, Birmingham and Solihull.
Does the last statement mean, that they will buying a hundred double-decker hydrogen buses?
A few thoughts.
Riding Birmingham’s New Hydrogen-Powered Buses
These are a few pictures from Riding Birmingham’s New Hydrogen-Powered Buses.
They were excellent buses from Wrightbus.
The Tram Style Buses
The Belgian firm; Van Hool have a product called Exquicity. This video shows them working in Pau in France.
These tram buses run on rubber types and are powered by hydrogen.
Similar buses running in Belfast are diesel-electric.
Could these be what the article refers to as tram-style buses?
It should be noted, that the West Midlands and Pau have bought their hydrogen filling stations from ITM Power in Sheffield.
So has there has been a spot of the Entente Cordiale between Pau and the West Midlands?
Will The West Midlands Buy The Other Hundred Buses From Wrightbus?
There doesn’t seem to be any problems on the web about the initial fleet, so I suspect they will.
It should also be noted that Wrightbus make the following types of zero-emission buses.
- StreetDeck – Hydroliner FCEV – Double-deck hydrogen bus
- StreetDeck – Electroliner BEV – Double-deck battery bus
- GB Kite – Hydroliner FCEV – Single-deck hydrogen bus
- GB Kite – Electroliner BEV – Single-deck battery bus
These would surely enable the West Midlands to mic-and-match according to their needs.
Aberdeen’s Hydrogen Buses Taken Off The Road Due To Technical Issue
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Aberdeen’s fleet of hydrogen buses has been taken off the road due to a “technical issue”.
The technical issue appears not to be hydrogen-related, but with a mounting bracket.
Strange coming after CAF had bracket trouble with their trams and Hitachi had a similar problem with their trains.
Wrightbus, CAF and Hitachi haven’t been using the save dodgy Chinese supplier called El Cheapo Brackets have they?
Riding Birmingham’s New Hydrogen-Powered Buses
I went to Birmingham today and took one of their new hydrogen buses on route 51 to Perry Barr and another one back.
Note.
- As the pictures show Perry Barr is a bit of traffic bottleneck because of the reconstruction of Perry Barr station an other developments in the area, because of the Commonwealth Games, which are going to e held in Birmingham in 2022.
- The route goes past the High Speed Two site.
- Birmingham is a city of highways, flyovers, underpasses and roundabouts.
- The buses have wi-fi and charging points for phones.
I very much feel that the buses are the best hydrogen-powered vehicles, that I’ve travelled in, as they are smooth, comfortable, quiet and seem to have excellent performance.
Birmingham Buses Have Their Own Hydrogen Electrolyser
London bring their hydrogen in by truck from Runcorn, where it is created by electrolysis, for their hydrogen-powered buses.
On the other hand, Birmingham Buses have their own electrolyser at the Tyseley Energy Park.
This Google Map shows Tyseley Energy Park.
Note.
- The Birmingham Bus Refueler hadn’t opened, when this map was last updated.
- Tyseley Energy Park is only a few miles from the City Centre and route 51.
- I estimate that the Tyseley Energy Park occupies around four hectares.
This page on the Tyseley Energy Park web site described the refuelling options that are available.
- Fuels available include hydrogen, biomethane, compressed natural gas, diesel, gas oil and AdBlue.
- There are a range of charging options for electric vehicles.
The 3 MW electrolyser was built by ITM Power of Sheffield, which I estimate will produce nearly 1.5 tonnes of hydrogen per day.
According to this page on the Wrightbus website, a hydrogen-powered double-deck bus needs 27 Kg of hydrogen to give it a range of 250 miles. The refuelling of each bus takes eight minutes.
So the current fleet of twenty buses will need 540 Kg of hydrogen per day and this will give them a combined range of 5000 miles.
It would appear that the capacity of the electrolyser can more than handle Birmingham’s current fleet of twenty buses and leave plenty of hydrogen for other vehicles.
Could Other Towns And Cities Build Similar Energy Parks?
I don’t see why not and it looks like ITM Power are involved in a proposal to build an electrolyser at Barking.
Some would feel that London ought to follow Birmingham and create its own hydrogen.
.
National Express Deploys Hydrogen Double-Deckers In The West Midlands
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewable Energy Magazine.
This is the first paragraph.
National Express has deployed 20 hydrogen double-decker buses purchased by Birmingham City Council, serving West Midlands route 51 to Walsall via Perry Barr from 6th December 2021– the only hydrogen buses operating in England outside London.
The buses are from Wrightbus.
The article also says this about the source of the hydrogen.
The council are also collaborating with ITM, who are producing and dispensing the hydrogen fuel from the new re-fuelling hub at Tyseley Energy Park.
This is surely the way to do it. Hydrogen buses with a local source of freshly-picked hydrogen.
The Anonymous Widower 