It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas 🎅2 Apr 2025 14:45
Hydrogen buses on trial at Sizewell C nuclear plant – 150 more could follow 🇬🇧🚌⚡️
Four hydrogen buses have begun ferrying workers to the Sizewell C nuclear site in Suffolk – three double-deckers and one single-decker – as part of a new trial that could lead to the UK’s largest hydrogen bus fleet.
The first buses have already been quietly running since January, with the official launch taking place in Ipswich last month.
According to Sizewell C, if the six-month pilot goes to plan, up to 150 hydrogen buses could be ordered to support the full construction phase of the 3.2GW nuclear project.
They would run alongside a future fleet of electric buses, forming what the company describes as a “mixed zero-emissions fleet”.
The buses are made by Wrightbus in Northern Ireland – the firm owned by JCB’s Jo Bamford – who built the world’s first hydrogen double-decker bus, launched in 2020.
All its hydrogen buses are built in the UK, which the company says supports thousands of skilled green jobs, both at the Ballymena factory and across the domestic supply chain.
“We always said hydrogen was for big and heavy machines,” said Wrightbus CEO Jean-Marc Gales. “And these buses are a perfect example of this in practice.”
Gales added that while battery-electric buses are fine in cities, they can fall short on longer, more rural routes – a useful detail in a county not exactly short on hedgerows and distant hamlets.
The buses are being operated by Specialist Passenger Solutions Ltd (SPS), part of First Bus Group.
Simon Cursio, Managing Director at SPS said: “This is an exciting time for all involved in the Sizewell C project. Working in partnership with Sizewell C, Wrightbus and Ryze Power, we will deliver cleaner, innovative solutions to workplace transport.
“Together, we will learn a lot through this pilot to inform us in providing the best and most effective emission-free passenger transport service for the duration of this great project.”
The pilot is scheduled to run for six months.
The hydrogen for the trial is being supplied by Ryze Power (also owned by a Mr Bamford), which is also trialling its mobile refuelling system.
This setup is the first hydrogen refuelling infrastructure of its kind in Suffolk – modest in scale, but not insignificant.
Ryze says the buses can be refuelled in eight minutes, about the same as filling up with diesel – just minus the particulates.
The company received over £3 million in government funding
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