When I was a teenager I used to read a lot of science fiction, and if I’d read then that
there would be a bus that ran on gas and produced nothing but water, I’m not sure
if I would have believed it in my own lifetime and yet here it is. Erm and it says
a lot about London, and the forward looking of London and the fact that we’re
willing to embrace future ideas and put them in to practical operation that we’ve
got this bus.
This is one of the erm, the new zero emission hydrogen and fuel cell buses
that we’ll be introducing. It’s unique because the only, the only emissions from
it are water vapour err and it will be, it is one of the cleanest buses in the world.
This is really the future of transportation. Your dealing with hydrogen err which can
be produced from renewable sources. Your, your zero emissions, your highly
efficient. You’ve got everything err from where transportation really should be and
will be going here in the, in the future.
TfL runs the, the largest bus fleet in Europe. We have eight and a half
thousand buses and over the last err ten years or so we’ve been doing a lot of
initiatives to make sure that the diesel fleet is as clean as it possibly can be. But
I think it’s also important as the operator of a big bus network that we also look to
future technology.
This bus has no engine, it actually has a fuel cell err which combines hydrogen
and oxygen to make water and electricity, and it also has an energy storage system
so that can be stored and used when its needed most, when your accelerating or
when your going up hill.
The concept takes in compressed hydrogen stored on the roof and
hydrogen cylinders and takes in compressed air, err is injected into fuel
cell module which is stored in the back of the bus and the out put is electricity and
water err pure d I Water, it’s the only emissions. The electricity is used really
for err the drive motors which directly couple through the drive shaft and propel
the bus forward.
Londoners travelling around seeing this bus will see a very clean bus, a quiet bus
that only emits water vapour or water from this exhaust. The water is clean
enough to drink, its pure water just like this.
This is a purpose built hydrogen refuelling facility for TfL‘s hydrogen
buses. Erm, it has a number of safety interlocks and features on it to allow for
safer fuelling of err of not the only buses but also any other hydrogen vehicles that
TfL wish to bring to the facility.
What passengers will notice when they’re on the bus is that they’re a lot smoother
than conventional diesel bus, and they’re also a lot quieter than the conventional
diesel bus so there are some additional benefits apart from being very very much
environmental friendly, they’re also smoother and quieter for the, the
travelling public.
I think the acceleration and breaking err technique on the bus are gonna benefit
passengers erm with regards to the smoothness.
I think this is a great bus and very quiet and very comfortable to drive I think the
public is gonna love it.
They’ll be running throughout the day backwards and forwards very very high
profile routes, so absolutely not only will Londoners see them but a huge number
of tourists will see them and will see that London is leading the way on hydrogen in
Europe.
We’re working with several other European cities who also are deploying
hydrogen buses in their fleet to share our experiences to make sure we get the best
learning’s for everyone.
Its a great place to, for this technology to, these buses are, are fuel cell hybrid
vehicles, so err when your dealing with a very much stop and go type of err transit
which is very much prevalent in London err these buses are gonna be err highly
efficient.
London should be proud that it’s actually err using some of the most err advanced
technology in its bus fleet and and is prepared to trial this technology and bring
it to the streets of London.
Its absolutely vital also that London leads the way with this kind of technology, you
know we have a huge err err centre of excellence here for science and
development and we want to showcase some of these technologies so the rest of
the world can come and see them and invest here for the hydrogen future.