The city of London will have a new fleet of hydrogen fuel cell buses starting this Saturday. The fleet, made of eight buses, is designed specifically for “Transport for London” (TfL).
The companies behind these eco-friendly buses (Ballard, Wrightbus and ISE) stated that this operation is currently the largest in Europe and the first of its kind in the UK.
During the remaining days of next year, another seven vehicles will join the fleet and so the country’s first zero-emission bus route, also known as the RV1, will be created.
Air Products will be the company that will maintain the permanent hydrogen refueling station (located at Stratford in east London) that will feed the buses whenever needed.
According to a research, the new fuel cell buses are 40% less polluting compared to traditional ones. So far, UK has about 100 hybrid vehicles on the roads, having plans to increase the number to 300 in order to reduce the high pollution levels.
“The new buses will run through the most polluted part of the city, through two air pollution hotspots, helping to improve London’s air quality,” said London Mayor Boris Johnson.
