Ballymena-based Wright Buses (www.wrightsgroup.com) has won a contract to manufacture the world’s first zero-emission hydrogen double-decker buses; they will be introduced on three London bus routes next year.

Transport for London (TfL) is investing £12 million in 20 of these buses and the fuelling infrastructure necessary to run them.

More than £5 million of funding is being provided by European bodies and £1 million by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles.

To encourage the take-up of this technology in other cities in the UK and Europe, TfL is leading procurement within the ‘Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe’ (JIVE) project.

This aims to reduce the cost of the vehicles by buying in bulk with other authorities, helping to put the price per bus on a par with the other ‘cleanest’ fuels.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “We all have a role to play in cleaning up London’s toxic air, and I’ve always said that TfL should lead from the front.

“Following the launch of the world-first Ultra Low Emission Zone last month, I’m delighted that TfL has signed a contract to bring 20 ‘state of the art’ zero-emission hydrogen buses to London’s streets.

“We are investing a record £85 million in cleaning up our bus fleet, and I am proud that London now has the largest zero-emission bus fleet in Europe.”

Hydrogen-powered buses can store more energy on board than equivalent buses, so they can be deployed on longer routes.

They only need to be re-fuelled once a day for five minutes, making them much quicker to power up than conventional battery-electric buses.

There are currently a total of 165 zero-emission buses in TfL’s fleet, with anther 68 electric double-deckers due to join them shortly.