In the lead up to Euro Bus Expo 2018, Wrights Group talks through this year’s showing and shares details on its current endeavours. James Day reports
On 10 October, Wrights Group held an event to discuss what it is bringing to this year’s Euro Bus Expo from 30 October – 1 November, along with an overview on current developments at the company. [wlm_nonmember][…]
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The key theme Wrights Group has chosen for its show presence this year is ‘Destination Zero – the Journey Continues.’ The company is looking to place emphasis on its innovating heritage as it promotes low emission and zero emission vehicles.
The Wrights Group stand, number J10 in Hall 5, will host three vehicles this year – a Wrightbus StreetDeck Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV), a StreetDeck hybrid which is one of 28 vehicles delivered to Translink in recent months, and a ‘narrow track’ Wrightbus StreetVibe destined for the States of Guernsey.
Confidence with hydrogen
The StreetDeck FCEV – which Wrightbus is calling the world’s first double-decker fuel cell bus – has recently completed a route shadowing trial in Aberdeen. It is built to meet TfL specification and utilises a Ballard FCveloCity fuel cell coupled to a Siemens drivetrain and 48kW traction battery pack. The 10.9m bus can carry 85 passengers, of which 64 are seated.
“This represents a big step forward for us, because a lot of what we have learned with our previous experience with fuel cells since 2010 has been incorporated into the drivetrain,” Mark said. “It also utilises a lot of our hybrid technology in the driveline.
“We very deliberately have designed a common platform that will serve single and double-deck.”
Mark claimed the vehicle has a 200 mile operating range which is capable of extending further, and can be refuelled in five-seven minutes.
Asked why the company has been willing to put sustained investment into hydrogen, Mark responded: “We’re all heading to a zero emission future, and we look at how that can be achieved. We believe there is not one single technological solution for all urban and inter-urban operations. There is strong demand from a number of countries for an alternative to electric and the infrastructure that comes with it.
“In a very crude sense, a hydrogen bus looks and behaves like a diesel in terms of infrastructure. You don’t have to buy additional buses to cover range anxiety.
“There is a focus now on well to wheel emissions. Electricity has to come from somewhere, and if you’re burning fossil fuels to generate it, it’s not desperately virtuous.
“The source of a lot of the hydrogen used in fuel cells, particularly in Nordic states, is from windfarms and hydroelectric power at times when the grid cannot accept the electricity. Cheap electricity is bought at night when the grid cannot accept it and hydrogen is made from it at a low cost. That energy is then stored – it will not degrade like a battery – and can be converted back into electricity at the point of use. It is potentially a very virtuous circle.”
Mark added that the JIVE (Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles in Europe) programme is giving the company further impetus: “We were awarded the framework contract for 56 vehicles in the UK, and it looks like 50 will be bought. There does seem to be a strong intention early next year to get to the point of placing orders. There is also talk of JIVE 2 and some other European projects.”
Micro Hybrid 3 now standard
The StreetDeck hybrid on display will demonstrate the latest in Wrights Group hybrid technology, with the now standard Micro Hybrid 3 tech onboard. The company claims it will combine hybrid electric and Micro Hybrid technologies to deliver exceptional fuel efficiency and very low emissions.
The new hybrid system is called the HEV 96. Buses using the tech have already been launched in London, Leeds and Sheffield – a mixture of single and double-deckers.
The vehicle on the stand is part of Translink’s five-year framework agreement for single and double-decker buses. It will go into service after the show.
“Progressively for public sector procurement, it is a five-year agreement which does allow for the introduction and testing of new technology, without going out to market,” Mark said. “Translink can talk to us about driveline technology, hybrids, fuel cells and electric buses, and take vehicles for testing.”
Mark also highlighted how the price of hybrids has come down: “From the time when we introduced our first hybrid electric to where we are today, it has gone from significantly more than £300,000 per vehicle to below £300,000 per vehicle for a double-decker. The pressure is on for competitive reasons, but we can also start to share some of the savings we’re getting from the supply chain.”
Completing the line-up
The StreetVibe has been included in the show line-up to demonstrate what Wrights Group can offer in terms of smaller, lighter vehicles. At 9.04m in length and 2.28m wide, it is ideally suited to operating on the narrow roads of Guernsey.
The vehicle can carry 31 seated passengers with a further 11 standing, or 28 seated with 13 standing along with a single wheelchair. It is the only product in the current Wrightbus range to carry a Cummins engine and an Allison transmission.
The bus on show will be one of 10 destined for CT Plus Guernsey, which will be used for community bus services including on-demand. The 10 buses are a repeat order, following a previous delivery of 12 similar vehicles in 2017.
Recent performance
As well as detailing what will be appearing at the show, a detailed state-of-the-nation presentation was provided on Wrights Group.
“These are challenging times for bus manufacturers,” Mark began. “The market is down for a lot of reasons. As a business, we have to weather the storm and get through it.”
In 2017, Wrights sold 1,068 buses and 290 CKDs (Complete Knock Down) from its plant in South East Asia. The company expects to produce around 1,000 buses in total in 2018.
The company admitted that 2018 would be a ‘tough year,’ but said it was well positioned for 2019, with a robust balance sheet of £42m.
Kirsty McBride, Wrights Group Finance Director, noted: “Despite the challenges of the last year, we did still commit to spending £5m on research and development, showing we still have our sights set firmly on investing for the future.”
Mark Nodder detailed some of the pressures facing the company: “The effect of the Bus Services Act is still being assessed and quantified. It has quite a wide scope of potential powers, and my impression talking to a number of operators is they are still unnerved by it. That’s not an ideal backdrop to investment.
“This is coupled with devolved responsibility for tackling air quality. Cities have been charged with developing their own air quality strategies, and are engaging with their local bus operators.
Having spoken to both city authorities and operators, it is clear that there is no universal consensus on the way forward.
“The industry has long been beating the drum about Euro VI vs Euro 6, and how buses are cleaner than the equivalent Euro 6 car. I’ve made the presentation many times – some people buy it, and some people give you a look of disbelief. We are working hard to try to educate and share what we believe is the ideal affordable and sustainable technology roadmap.”
London
Considering the London market, Mark continued: “London has been a huge driver of business for British bus manufacturers. Until recently, we were massive beneficiaries through the New Routemaster programme.
“We’ve seen a big change in the landscape over the last two years. The treasury’s subvention to TfL has been withdrawn and the mayor has pledged to freeze fares, which has a revenue impact. Most recently, the delay in Crossrail has an impact because the lines would be generating revenue if they were up and running. There is also a decline in passenger numbers in London.
“We saw a real peak of 1,000 vehicles delivered in a year. This year, London will take around 400, and the same can be said for the following year. This is a reflection of budget, but also that patronage has declined by several percent over the last three years. During the disruption caused by various infrastructure works, people have found different ways of getting around. They have adjusted their travel patterns to cope, and unfortunately for the bus sector, some of that change has become permanent.
“Despite the budget constraints, the push for hybrid and zero emission in London has to continue. Consecutive mayors have pledged to lift themselves up the league table of clean cities.”
A new location
Significant progress has been made towards relocating Wrights Group’s production facilities to a new facility called the Gracehill Campus. The new 100 acre site was acquired from Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in 2017 and is located around a mile away from the existing Galgorm site in Ballymena.
The plan is for the vast majority of Wrights Group activities to be hosted at Gracehill, with the exception of Metallix and the third-party customer production side of Wrights Composites, which will remain at Galgorm. Nu-Track will also move from its current premises to Galgorm – Mark said the company is going to become more closely aligned with Wrights Group over time.
“We’re about 60-70% done moving production to Gracehill,” Mark said. “We’ve been doing that on a contract by contract basis, so when a contract concludes on the Galgorm production line, the next contract will move over to Gracehill.
“Pretty much all of management have now relocated their offices and departments, and overall the standard of accommodation is better. For us it has been a huge investment, but is a platform for growth for the future.”
International sales
Details were provided on a number of new international orders, many of which are to be built at the new Gracehill campus.
As revealed in CBW1363, Wrightbus has secured two major orders from operators in Hong Kong. The new orders are 150 double-deckers for Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) along with 10 for sister company LongWin Bus, and a further order of seven for New World First Bus (NWFB) and 46 for its sister company City Bus Ltd.
Japanese tour bus operator Hatobus has commissioned five Wrightbus-bodied Scania tri-axle double-deckers, each with a sliding open-top roof design. Wrightbus is aiming to have the vehicles built by mid-2019, to arrive just in time for the Rugby World Cup.
“We see this as a soft entry into a new market which we see growth potential in,” said John McLeister, Group Business and Product Development Director. “It’s a very exciting project in an exciting city.”
It was highlighted that a 4×2 10.6m StreeDeck is currently under evaluation in Hong Kong, with a six-cylinder Daimler engine and an air-conditioning system. It was also confirmed that left-hand-drive variants of the StreetVibe, StreetLite and StreetDeck are now available.
Diversification
Mark also detailed some of the business diversification taking place at Wrights Group, including more involvement in bus refurbishments.
“We’ve always done accident repair and occasional bespoke conversion, but until this year we had never taken on a big batch,” he said.
“We converted 50 vehicles for Lothian Buses this year – ex-Metroline London double-deckers. That has given us an appetite for more business, so we are tendering with some of the major groups.
“We carry out the work in our factory – we manage the refurbishment of a bus in the same way we would build a brand new bus. It’s the same skills, parts and attention to detail. Refurbishment is something we have had our eye on, but it would have been too much of a diversion in the past. Providing the scale is there, it could be quite useful. The potential is there for mechanical refurbishment too.”
Mark also highlighted continued investment in the group’s two fabrication divisions, Wright Composites and Metallix. This investment has allowed some quite interesting diversification into other areas of business, like building production sets for the enormously popular TV series Game of Thrones, which is filmed in Northern Ireland.
The company has also made panels for Crosslé race cars and helped to refurbish cruise ships, amongst other new endeavours.
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