A new generation of clean, green and silent buses was revealed by its Welsh developers at an international symposium in London yesterday.

The bus has been developed over two years as a project within the Alternative Fuels and Powertrains Cluster.
It is expected to be on the road by March, initially in the University but then running to Cardiff and across South Wales.

The rolling chassis shown at Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre was used to highlight the support being given to fuel cell development by International Business Wales as part of the Welsh Assembly Government investment programme.
AF&P Clusters manager Kevin Hammett said, “This is a very special day for public transport because it is the first trybrid vehicle in Britain which will be going into production in Wales next year and shows what can be achieved when universities and business work together.”
He added that a number of cluster members in Wales were suppliers or partners to the project and there would be further spin-off benefits.
The H2Go bus uses fuel cells, advanced lead acid batteries and ultra capacitators to power it for about 170 miles between recharging while giving it the capability of keeping up with traffic even when loaded with 17 passengers.

Project leader Jonathan Williams (left) said a lot of development had gone into testing and controlling the three power systems which combined to give H2Go enormous advantages over conventional hybrid dual system vehicles.

Dragon Coachworks director John Wiggins (left) said, “There is enormous potential for this vehicle and we will be offering a variety of seating arrangements and special equipment to adapt it for community transport as well as regular coach work.”
Fellow director Jaime Powell added, “The technology under the H2Go vehicle can be utilised in other vehicles and we can specifically design a commercial vehicle to meet particular business needs.This can be important if a company wants to save money and reduce their carbon footprint under future legislation.”