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Wrightbus unveils the latest stage of its hydrogen coach development

Wrightbus, the fastest-growing bus manufacturer in the UK and Europe, took the wraps off the latest stage of its hydrogen coach development following successful Government funding.

New hydrogen coach demonstrator Wrightbus

CEO, Jean-Marc Gales, described the latest zero-emission coach iteration – a 300kw hydrogen coach demonstrator unveiled at the Cenex Expo, as a significant step forward in the road to decarbonising the public transport industry.

A significant step forward

He said he was hugely grateful to the support of the Department for Business and Trade, delivered through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC), and with partners including Queen’s University Belfast and Symbio.

“For years Wrightbus has led the way in transport innovation, producing the world’s first hydrogen-powered bus and an award-winning battery-electric version, now both sold all around the world,” Jean-Marc explained.

“But there is no room for standing still; innovation has been at the core of our business since we were founded in 1946 and we continue to plough enormous amounts of time, money and effort into staying ahead of the curve.

“While buses have been in the Wrightbus DNA since day one we know that to have a real impact on public transport we must tackle the decarbonisation of coaches. Yet they have different needs – they must go further for longer and carry much higher payloads.

“Although the demonstrator on show at Cenex is not the finished article, we have worked heavily on creating a new driveline and our testing shows it can cover 1,000kms on one refuelling.”

Image credit: Wrightbus