Wrightbus adds trucks to repowering roster

World-leading bus manufacturer Wrightbus today took the wraps off its first repowered truck as it announced plans to grow its market share in zero-emission transport.

Building 1,000 buses a year at its headquarters in Northern Ireland, Wrightbus also launched a bus repowering division in Oxfordshire – NewPower – the largest facility of its kind in the UK which strips out diesel engines and replaces them with an electric powertrain.

Now it’s unveiled its first truck conversion – a 19-tonne twin-axle DAF - which engineers have hailed a landmark success, creating 160 jobs over the next two years in the UK.

CEO Jean-Marc Gales said the repowering project was a key cornerstone in the fight to decarbonise the truck sector.

With air quality heading for a national emergency and the cost of zero-emission vehicles still out of reach for many operators, the repowered truck comes in at less than half the price of a new one.

Engineers say the conversion can take as little as four weeks, stripping out the diesel engine and gearbox and replacing it with an electric powertrain. They have spent the last 11 months on the project which has seen them modify the vehicle to accommodate the 282kWh battery, capable of a range of 290km. 

The 19-tonne truck was chosen for its remarkably similar duty cycle DNA to a bus - urban deliveries with fixed routes and back-to-base. The proven Wrightbus BEV powertrain has been adapted to suit, with more than 90% commonality of parts. In future, all trucks will be repowered at NewPower’s state-of-the-art Bicester factory, with service and maintenance provided by a fleet of mobile service engineers and a strategic partnership with SVS, which already looks after Wrightbus’s brand of zero-emission trucks under its Rightech banner.

The new venture forms part of a global expansion for Wrightbus across the UK, Europe and Asia. Already employing more than 2,300 people, and with service centres in Ballymena, Coventry, Bicester, Brühl in Germany and Selangor in Malaysia, Wrightbus has become a worldwide leader in zero-emission public transport.

“Buses have led the way in decarbonisation for the last two or three years: year-to-date sales of new buses in the UK are 75% zero-emission, but trucks are lagging way behind, with less than 1 per cent of the sector switching to EV,” he explained.

“We believe that repowering is the simplest and most cost-effective way to ignite the market and our incredible Wrightbus engineers have more experience than anyone else in replacing internal combustion engines with electric powertrains.”

Wrightbus is the number one zero-emissions bus maker in the UK. Two years ago, it had 200 zero emission buses on the road. Last year, the figure was over 900 and this year it will surpass 3,000.

“We’ve also partnered with a service team that understands trucks like no other, complementing our growing fleet of mobile service engineers,” Jean-Marc added.

“Operators and fleet managers can have complete confidence that we can provide a 360-degree solution; helping bus customers adapt from diesel fleets to zero-emission fleets seamlessly, maintaining them with 98.6% uptime, and with each bus covering an average of 50,000 miles per annum.”

Along with producing the world’s first hydrogen double decker bus and the iconic London Routemaster, Wrightbus also holds the title for most efficient buses across its entire EV and hydrogen ranges.