Whilst details remain sparse at this point on the power source (fuel cell or hydrogen ICE?), the new i6 coach is set to have a minimum range of 500km on a single refill. Irizar says that the hydrogen coach forms part of its “future business strategy and technology roadmap, which includes the Irizar Efficient range of multi-technology vehicles.”

The merger with ElectraMeccanica, which is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of this year, is being made with the view of combining industrial assets on both sides of the Atlantic and scaling up electric vehicle production for the European and North American markets. 

The system was announced last year and is expected to generate 200 kW of power from a single stack, enabling 20 per cent more range per kilogram of hydrogen compared to the 120-kW system, which significantly improves the total cost of ownership of H2 trucks.

The German multinational has committed a further EUR 2.5 billion over the next five years to support the expansion of its hydrogen fuel cell technology as the company expects to generate roughly EUR 5 billion in sales from it by 2030.

Spun out of the governmental Sandia National Laboratories, BayoTech began filing patents for its own steam methane reformation process for producing hydrogen back in 2020.

Hydrogenics’ fuel cell and electrolyser capabilities will be incorporated within Cummins’ new business unit for zero-emission technologies called ‘Accelera’.

These tests were designed to see how the vehicle copes in extreme temperatures and to try out the newly developed thermal management system. The engineers were also interested to monitor how the fuel cell system operates at extreme altitudes.

The bus fleet consists of 20 Wrightbus GB Kite Hydrolider hydrogen fuel cell electric buses which are to be operated in the Crawley, Horley and Gatwick Airport areas of Great Britain.

This now extends Loop’s footprint beyond South Korea, Italy and Australia and now into Poland. The company calculates that its fuel cells are being used in 12,000 buses, a number that is only growing.

This report is based on trips to the Turbo Technologies facility in Huddersfield and to the third Hydrogen for Life conference in London, both taking place in June 2023.

The tests will enable First Hydrogen to gather data on fuel consumption, usage and efficiency, to therefore calculate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) more accurately.

This moves comes on the back of a major repower bus order in the Capital and to combat competition primarily coming from Chinese OEMs.