In Hong Kong, the public transport operator ‘Citybus’ will operate 147 double-deckers powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Citybus has won a ten-year tender to operate regular services in the Chinese Special Administrative Region. Citybus has set the goal of operating a fully zero-emission bus fleet by 2045.
The supplier of the ‘DD 12’ buses is the ‘Wisdom Motor Company’ from the Chinese city of Fujian. ‘Wisdom’ is not an entirely unpretentious name. The company was only founded in 2019 and is therefore only five years old. It specialises in building and supplying zero-emission commercial vehicles (trucks and buses).
Three years ago, Wisdom delivered its first double-deckers with battery-electric propulsion. This type has now been further developed into the type with hydrogen fuel cell drive; the first of the cars with fuel cell equipment from Ballard (80 kW) was already presented in February 2024. The three-axle vehicle is 12 metres long and its body is made of fireproof plastics. Wisdom rightly says that a low weight of the vehicle reduces its energy consumption. And so Wisdom also claims a range of 400 kilometres for his ‘DD 12’. It takes ten minutes to refuel the car once – roughly comparable to the refuelling time of a diesel bus.
The vehicles are right-hand drive and have the doors on the left-hand side because, unlike in the rest of China, Hong Kong has left-hand traffic – a relic from British times. The buses are authorised for 100 passengers.
Following the first test runs with the new hydrogen fuel cell double-deckers in Hong Kong in January, the new Wisdom double-deckers are now in operation on the line from Wal Fu Central station via Aberdeen Tunnel, Cross Harbour Tunnel and Lion Rock Tunnel to Sha Tin station.
