Northern Ireland-based zero-emission bus manufacturer Wrightbus has announced plans for further expansion into Europe following the arrival of a landmark hydrogen bus order into Germany.
All of the 31 buses for operator Regionalverkehr Köln Gmbh (RVK) are now in situ — the first Wrightbus vehicles on European soil — with testing underway before the fleet goes into service across the Cologne region.
Alongside further hydrogen bus deals for Saarbahn, Vestische, Cottbus and West Verkehr, and the opening of a new European service center in Bruhl, Wrightbus is also hiring staff to supply buses to France and Benelux.
In October 2024, it also signed a landmark deal worth up to 500 million pounds to supply more than 1,000 buses to operator Go-Ahead over the next three years — 90% of which will be zero-emission.
Wrightbus CEO Jean-Marc Gales praised the efforts of his production team and said Germany was just the start of the company’s aspirations.
“This was by far and away the most technical operation we have faced — these were our first buses for Europe, after all — and it was important for everything to be absolutely right before we signed them off,” says Gales. “As well as the buses, we are also delighted to open our European service center in Bruhl, enabling our team of experts to service and maintain buses of all types right in the heart of Europe, and we’re hiring across the continent to get more buses into operation.”
Gales thanked his counterpart at RVK, Dr. Marcel Frank, and his team for helping to make the deal a success.
“I want to place on record my thanks to Dr. Frank and our colleagues at RVK, along with our own world-leading engineers, designers, production teams and new product development staff who have worked tirelessly on this new product to deliver something we can all be immensely proud of,” says Gales.
