Clean transport pioneer Wrightbus has appointed a leading industry name as its new Head of Coach Sales, as it continues its drive to develop a long-range hydrogen coach.
David Porter, who has over three decades of experience in the coach industry with Volvo and Van Hool, joined Wrightbus earlier this month.
“I’m excited to join Wrightbus at this pivotal moment, and I’m looking forward to bringing the voice of the customer to the forefront in our coachbuilding process, alongside utilising my technical expertise and giving design direction,” said David, who is splitting his time between the Wrightbus head office in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, and visiting customers in the UK.
Wrightbus first announced plans to develop a hydrogen coach at the start of the year, with plans for the first vehicles to go into production in 2026.
Earlier this month, the company took the wraps off the latest stage of the coach’s development when it unveiled a 300kw demonstrator at the Cenex Expo at the famous Millbrook testing ground in Bedfordshire.
The final product is planned to have a range of 1,000km, which would put it on a par with traditional diesel-fuelled coaches.
“It’s the perfect time to join the company to use my experience to assist and drive the development and design aspect of vehicle, ensuring we produce a product that fulfils the customers operational needs,” said David.
“However, we have been very public with the fact that we are developing one and my immediate remit is to enhance that offering to customers. I am engaging with operators to get their views on the development so that we are offering something that they want, not what we think they want.
“In the coach environment, the challenge is the range. Current battery electric technology that has been utilised so far has limitations in this area, so there is a lot of excitement about the potential for a 1,000km hydrogen-powered vehicle. Many thought zero-emission coaches wouldn’t come close to the range diesel could offer and suddenly, here it is on the horizon.”
David started in the industry as a coach builder with Yeates, which was bought out by Volvo. He then spent over 30 years with Volvo, working in customer services before moving into sales and managing the UK and Ireland sales team.
Jean-Marc Gales, Wrightbus CEO, has described the development of a hydrogen coach as a “technical tour de force”.
“Coach operators require six to ten cubic metres of luggage space. You need at least 50 to 60 seats and disability access and enough packaging space to put the tanks and the hydrogen cooling system and the fuel cells in,” he said. “But we can do it, we have the technical expertise with fuel cells; we have the best engineers on the market for fuel cell buses.”
It is this aspect that attracted David to the role.
“The challenge is the main appeal and the drive to make it happen,” he said. We’ll find a way through the difficulties. It has to be a collaborative process.
“The sustainability aspect is very important both to me personally and to the sector. There are fewer small companies in the coach arena than a few years ago and these larger operators are thinking more about their green credentials, and also the need to offer their customers a zero-emissions option.”
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