Around 10% of buses in Wrightbus’ mammoth deal for 1,200 vehicles with the UK’s Go-Ahead Group could be its hydrogen-powered offerings, H2 View has learned.
The up to £500m ($653m) “landmark” deal announced on Tuesday (October 8) will see the Northern Ireland-based bus manufacturer supply 1,200 buses, more than 90% of which will be zero-emissions, to operator Go-Ahead over the next three years.
Said to be the Jo Bamford-owned firm’s largest deal in its 78-year history, a Wrightbus spokesperson told H2 View that the firm was working on the basis that 10% of the buses would be hydrogen-powered.
The company currently offers a single- and double-decker hydrogen fuel cell electric bus, each using Ballard Power System’s FCmove® fuel cells.
It comes after Go-Ahead announced a £30m ($39m) investment to purchase 54 hydrogen-powered buses from Wrightbus and set up a refuelling station for services in and around Gatwick Airport in 2023.
Read more:Wrightbus to supply hydrogen-powered buses to Go-Ahead Group
“This multi-million-pound investment and partnership with Wrightbus will accelerate the transition to zero-emission fleet across the UK,” said Matt Carney, CEO of Go-Ahead Bus.
Produced in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, the hydrogen double-decker hit one million miles of service in May 2022.
“The deal with Go-Ahead is a hugely significant not just for Wrightbus and for Ballymena, but for the wider UK,” Wrightbus CEO, Jean-Marc Gales, stated.
The firm says the deal will safeguard 500 jobs, while supporting a 1,500 more across the UK supply chain.
“It represents a huge boost to the UK’s economy and it will support homegrown manufacturing, jobs and skills for the next three years and beyond,” Gales added.
Wrightbus: on the road to success
© Wrightbus
Robert Best has had a challenging day in the air, enduring cancellations and delays from Heathrow to Belfast. But Wrightbus’ Director of Engineering looks a lot happier back on terra firma, happy talking through all aspects of its growing hydrogen bus manufacturing business domestically and internationally.
It’s been quite a ride. From the inception of its first fuel cell project in 2005, the UK hydrogen and electric bus manufacturer has expanded rapidly, and next year is targeting 1,200 buses from its Ballymena plant. It also operates a Malaysia plant, serving the Hong Kong and Singapore markets. It took on its 1,000th member of staff last year – three years after being bought out of administration by green pioneer Jo Bamford with just 56 people on the books.
Its portfolio comprises four primary models, under the StreetDeck, StreetLite, GB Hawk (single deck) and GB Lite brands, and most prominent are the Hydroliners and Electroliners (both available in BEVs and FCEVs). The most recent addition to the range is the single-deck hydrogen model, the Hawk Hydroliner.
“We are arguably among the best double-deck manufacturers in the world – there are four or five companies that still produce them,” said Best. “What’s really interesting is we’re now selling vehicles beyond our core markets, so hydrogen has opened doors for us that weren’t there before…
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