The Liverpool City Region is set to be the first place in the North of England to trial hydrogen buses, following a successful £6.4 million bid submitted to the Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles.

The Liverpool City Region Hydrogen Bus Project will see the creation of a new hydrogen refuelling station at the BOC plant in St Helens, which produces hydrogen for industrial customers in the region (and further afield).

There will be up to 25 hydrogen-powered buses on the streets, emitting nothing but water from the exhaust pipe, and the first bus trial is expected to take place in 2020, subject to agreement with the Bus Alliance, which includes Arriva and Stagecoach.

The hydrogen refuelling station will initially deliver 500kg of hydrogen every day.

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “With a low-carbon economy worth more than £2 billion a year, we are already in the vanguard of the green energy revolution, and the Liverpool City Region Hydrogen Bus Project is another very exciting step in that direction.

"Introducing commercially viable hydrogen-powered buses would not only help our city region tackle poor air quality and achieve our ambition of being zero-carbon by 2040 but would also put us at the forefront of a technology that could be transformative for the rest of the country — and beyond.”

Jan Ellringmann, BOC head of sales and marketing, said: “As pioneers of hydrogen’s use in low-carbon transport, BOC is delighted to be working with the Hydrogen Bus Project partners to help bring cleaner air to the Liverpool City Region.”