Throughout the UK there are over 120 urban areas registered as Air Quality Zones in need of improvement. Pollution from vehicles is the main cause.
The Wright Group, a Northern Ireland firm, has developed a range of low-pollutant buses. Its latest is an electric hybrid city bus combining an electric drive, batteries and a small turbine engine.
Where a conventional diesel bus could produce 8-15 grams of nitrous oxide each kilometre it travels, the Wright Electrocity bus emits about 1/2 a gram a kilometre. For carbon monoxide gases a similar reduction ratio is achieved while hydrocarbon emissions are barely measurable.
The Wright Electrocity has undergone successful field tests in Ballymena, London, Bristol, Leeds, York, Sheffield and Winchester and is ready to take to market.
