London phasing out diesels
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has committed to phasing out the purchase of diesel buses. He revealed that no more pure diesel double deckers will be added to the capital’s fleet from 2018 and that all new single deckers for central London will be zero emission. The announcement was made during the launch of the world’s first double decker hydrogen bus. The Wrightbus manufactured vehicle is to be trialled on the capital’s roads next year.
The Mayor unveiled the new bus as he and Deputy Mayor of Transport, Val Shawcross, met with international city officials, bus manufacturers, financiers and technology providers attending an International Zero-Emission Bus Conference and Summit at City Hall. Sadiq Khan is calling on other cities to follow London’s lead and work together to challenge bus manufacturers to produce more zero emission buses and make cleaner bus technology cheaper. Eleven other major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Cape Town, have already responded to the call and agreed to begin moves to phase out their procurement of pure diesel buses by the end of 2020. Paris, Madrid and Mexico City have committed to removing diesel buses from their cities by 2025.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said, ‘I want London to become a world leader in hydrogen and electric bus technology. I’m implementing hard hitting measures to clean up London’s toxic air and it’s great that more cities are getting on board to phase out the procurement of pure diesel buses which sends a clear signal that only the cleanest technologies are wanted in our cities. Transforming London’s bus fleet by accelerating the introduction of zero emission buses is important and I plan to work with bus manufacturers, other cities, the European Commission and the C40 Climate Change Leadership Group of Cities to move this agenda forward.’
Wrights Group Chairman and CEO, Mark Nodder OBE, said, ‘This exciting new zero emissions bus, using hydrogen fuel cell technology, is the pinnacle of our ongoing work to deliver highly innovative buses with the best environmental credentials. Buses like this have the potential to make a massive contribution to improving the air quality of London and our major cities.’