LONDON’S ROADS ARE GETTING GREENER

These zero emission busses will run on green hydrogen produced at Air Liquide’s facility in Runcorn, Cheshire, which processes waste hydrogen from the industrial chemical industry. This site will be converted to produce only green hydrogen by 2023. Wrightbus has manufactured the hydrogen powered busses, Luxfer is manufacturing cylinders, and Nel Hydrogen has installed a refuelling station at the Perivale bus depot in Ealing because each bus will need to refuel at least once a day. These are industry leading developments in terms of net-zero emissions, this ties in with the government’s plan to put a ban on the sale of diesel or petrol powered busses by 2030. 

TfL’s interim director of buses Geoff Hobbs said “London may have one of the cleanest bus fleets in Europe, but we need to continue to act now to tackle climate change and the city’s toxic air quality. Introducing these hydrogen double-decker buses to our fleet, alongside electric buses, diversifies our green bus portfolio and helps us use the right technology for the varying operational requirements of our vast network. This will help Londoners breathe cleaner air. Our investment in hydrogen will not just benefit London, either. Outside the capital, we are supporting jobs across the UK and our involvement with the industry across Europe is making cleaner fuels more affordable to cities all over Europe.”

The plan will be rolled out to several UK cities in the near future, and the funds for this will be jointly provided by TfL, the UK Government’s Office of Zero-Emission Vehicles and two European bodies – the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, and the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA). The total cost currently stands at around £12 million pounds, this influx of funds will help drive the cleaner energy plan and bring the UK one step closer to net-zero emissions.