Wrightbus showcases fuel cell electric bus in the UK

Wrightbus says its double deck bus uses fuel cell technology to deliver zero emissions while in operation. The StreetDeck fuel cell electric vehicle was displayed at the UK’s Euro Bus Expo 2018 in Birmingham. 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. Stre
November 7, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
6616 Wrightbus says its double deck bus uses fuel cell technology to deliver zero emissions while in operation. The StreetDeck fuel cell electric vehicle was displayed at the UK’s Euro Bus Expo 2018 in Birmingham.


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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Ballard and Siemens sign $9 million agreement on fuel cell engine train
    November 16, 2017
    Ballard Power Systems (BPS) has announced it has signed a development agreement with Siemens, with a contemplated value of $9 million (£6.8 million), to develop a zero-emission fuel cell engine to power Siemens’ Mireo light rail train in Germany. Initial deployments of the train are planned for 2021. BPS will develop a 200-kilowatt fuel cell engine for integration into the new train platform which aims to reach speeds of up to 160 km per hour (100 miles per hour). Sabrina Soussan, chief executive officer
    Read More
  • RAC Foundation: UK drivers receive 12 million penalties annually
    October 25, 2017
    Up to 12 million driving license holders receive a penalty notice each year – the equivalent of one every 2.5 seconds; meaning as many as a third (30%) of Britain's 40 million drivers now receive a penalty notice annually. The findings come from the Automated Road Traffic Enforcement: Regulation, Governance and Use - for the RAC Foundation by Dr Adam Snow, a lecturer in criminology at Liverpool Hope University. The penalty notices include the Fixed Penalty Notice (a criminal penalty issued
    Read More
  • ITS World Congress hosts European Commission’s 3rd ITS Conference
    September 26, 2012
    On 22 October 2012 the European Commission is organising its 3rd Conference on Intelligent Transport in Europe within the framework of the 19th ITS World Congress at Messe Wien, Room Stolz 1&2 and foyer Stolz. The main objective of the conference is to provide and discuss results of the ITS Action Plan and to present the status of the implementation of the ITS Directive 2010/40/EU. Additionally, the presentations will address legal issues for ITS deployment as well as European multimodal journey planners.
    Read More
  • Kistler looks for speed camera synergies
    March 21, 2018
    Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) specialist Kistler says its move into speed camera enforcement will help complement its core activities. The firm acquired German company eso, which manufactures portable speed measurement devices, last year, and Tomas Pospisek, Kistler’s global market development manager for road & traffic, says: “We’re hoping this will bring us synergies. We’re monitoring the weight and they’re monitoring the speed. It’s an important step, for sure.” When it comes to WIM, Kistler still maintains ther
    Read More

Highlighted Content