First of Aberdeen Hydrogen bus fleet rolled out

City council takes delivery of first four of what is planned to be ‘Europe’s largest’ hydrogen bus fleet

The first four of a fleet of 10 hydrogen buses have been delivered to Aberdeen city council, in what has been described as a ‘major milestone’ in the project to reduce emissions from the city’s public transport fleet.

(l-r) Aberdeen city council leader Barney Crockett and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond (Pic credit: Aberdeen city council)

The project was first announced in August 2012, and has around £3.3million in financial backing from the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the European Commission, will see Scotland’s first hydrogen refuelling hub built in the city.

It is hoped that the scheme will demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of hydrogen transport technologies and aims to drive the development of hydrogen technologies.

Aspiration

Council leader Barney Crockett, said: “The arrival of these buses in Scotland is absolutely wonderful news. We will have the world’s largest fleet of hydrogen fuel cell buses running on Aberdeen’s streets, which will help us to not only realise our aspiration of becoming a world-leading city for low carbon technology, but also of maintaining our position as a leading world energy city.

“The Aberdeen Hydrogen Bus Project is a few years in the making now, but this is the first visible step in a very important demonstration project which will help to inform the growth and development of hydrogen technologies and the hydrogen industry, as well as a strong hydrogen economy. It will have significant benefits locally, nationally and internationally..

Belgian firm Van Hool has developed the buses, with the remaining six to be delivered in the coming weeks.

Scotland’s Transport Minister Keith Brown, said: “I am pleased to see the months of hard work on this exciting project paying off and hydrogen fuel cell buses actually arriving on the streets of Aberdeen. The council and other partners should be proud of this achievement — which will see the largest such fleet in Europe.

“With only water vapour being emitted from them and high levels of renewable energy being used to create their hydrogen fuel, these vehicles will be an inspiring example to the people of Scotland of the benefits of our move to a low carbon future for transport.”