Pioneering Northern Ireland manufacturer reveals latest stage of its hydrogen coach development following funding boost

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

Unveiled at today’s (Wednesday) Cenex Expo, CEO Jean-Marc Gales described the latest zero-emission coach iteration, a 300kw hydrogen coach demonstrator, as a significant step forward in the road to decarbonising the public transport industry.

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.

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“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.”

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Wrightbus has come a long way since it was rescued out of administration by Jo Bamford in 2019.

On the back of five landmark deals in Germany and a workforce heading towards 2,000 people, the company has also launched NewPower, a manufacturing wing which strips out diesel bus engines and replaces them with EV powertrains.