Wrightbus showcases fuel cell electric bus in the UK

Fuel cell technology mixes hydrogen and compressed air (oxygen) in a chemical process to generate electric power to drive.

The company says the vehicle comes with an extended storage option which increases its range from 200 to 265 miles. Also, the bus can be refuelled in seven minutes.

StreetDeck operates on a Ballard FCveloCity fuel cell, a 189 Siemens drivetrain and a 48 kW traction battery pack. It can carry 64 seated passengers and 21 standing.

Also, the bus comes with lightweight hydrogen storage tanks and an automatic battery management system which monitors and balances the stored power while in operation.

Earlier this year, Wrightbus was chosen as the supplier of double deck buses in the UK for the Joint Initiative for Hydrogen Vehicles in Europe (JIVE).

The JIVE initiative’s stated ambition is to promote the development of fuel cell technology in buses throughout Europe. The scheme is supported by grants from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking – a public-private partnership which supports research and development of the technology.

In the UK, up to 50 fuel cell powered buses have been operating in Birmingham, Aberdeen and London. In addition, the scope of the project includes the deployment of 139 vehicles across nine locations in Europe.

In %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 35082 0 link-external May false /sections/general/news/ballard-to-deploy-40-fuel-cell-modules-to-power-buses-in-germany/ false false%>, Ballard Power Systems deployed 40 FCveloCity-HD fuel cell modules to power buses under JIVE. The delivery was part of an agreement with bus manufacturer bus manufacturer Van Hool in Belgium.

Van Hool plans to deploy 30 buses in Germany with the Regionalverkehr Köln transit agency in Cologne, and the remaining ten buses with WSW Mobil in Wuppertal.