Buses
Hydrogen buses have completed more than 12 million kilometre of service over a 15 year period. In this time, they have achieved an availability in excess of 98%. The market is now ready for the next generation. Wrightbus has worked with its suppliers, namely Ballard Power Solutions and Hexagon, to expand its product offering for a European audience. This will include a 12-meter single-decker, double-decker and articulated fuel cell electric bus. These buses will be state of the art. Our offering is the ideal substitute for fossil based solutions without compromising range, operational ability or cost.
- The H2Bus is manufactured by Wright Bus, a bus manufacturer from North Ireland.
- The H2Bus will include Ballard fuel cells and onboard Hexagon hydrogen storage tanks.
- The H2Bus are ready for delivery from 2020, while the articulated will be ready from 2021.
- The basic bus range exceeds 450km. This can be increased to more than 675km with an extended range option.
- Buses can be refuelled in five to seven minutes at Everfuel/Ryse refuelling stations.
- Exploiting heat produced by the fuel cell increases the efficiency of the system. This avoids the need for an auxiliary diesel heater – truly zero-emission
Service and maintenance
The H2Bus maintenance will be organised by Wrightbus to meet the customer’s demands. The maintenance package will be available at 0,30€/km. This program will ensure that a complete stock of spare parts for these buses are held and managed in each country. This will consist of the standard and drivetrain components. Wrightbus will commit to delivering these components to your depot in a timely manner.
This program will also deliver training for staff at the operator’s depot. This will ensure a smooth transition and will allow transit technicans to be qualified to conduct maintenance for these hydrogen buses. This is further described below.
Hydrogen fuel
The consortium will also offer an affordable and reliable supply of green hydrogen straight to the operators depot. Nel Hydrogen will supply electrolysers and hydrogen stations while Hexagon will supply hydrogen trailers needed to make the hydrogen value chain complete. Everfuel and Ryse Hydrogen will install and operate the complete hydrogen value chain equipment and offer dispensed hydrogen at bus depots. Ryse Hydrogen is responsible for executing these actions in the UK, while Everfuel will execute them in mainland Europe. This hydrogen will be;
- Produced from renewable and low cost electricity at centralized hydrogen logistic centers.
- Transported to the bus operators depot via high capacity hydrogen trailers.
- Priced at parity with diesel on a per kilometer basis - €5/kg to €7/kg depending on the local conditions and bus fleet size
Ensuring a smooth transition
With hydrogen fuel cell electric bus fleet sizes growing, premium support services are readily available from experienced support personnel. This ensures the safe and reliable operation of these buses with maximum operational uptime. Ballard and Wrightbus conduct extensive bus and product training to ensure the transit bus operator’s technicians become experts in their field and can confidently provide services of the highest quality. Training for the transit bus operator’s technicians can take place at Wrightbus’ facilities in Northern Ireland, at Ballard’s European headquarters in Denmark, or the operator’s depot. Training is validated through testing that provides an assessment of the technician’s skills related to product knowledge, preventative and corrective maintenance, and troubleshooting. For the adoption of any new technology into operation, a mobilization period must always be considered. With Ballard’s training program and the local support team, this mobilization period will be very smooth and effective.
