Sadiq Khan signals an end to pure diesel bus procurement
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has unveiled London City’s first hydrogen-powered double-decker bus.
Again, the controversial Mayor is restating his commitment to tackling the toxic fumes produced by public transport diesels in the capital.
The new diesel policies being developed by the Mayor means that London will not add any new pure diesel double-decker buses to its fleet from 2018 onwards, and all of its new single-decker buses will be zero-emission models.
Hydrogen buses will instead be trialled on London’s streets from this year, 2017, and Mr Khan said that he would like to see other cities worldwide follow suit.
London is not alone in its moves against diesel fuels. Other major cities around the world have already started to phase out their procurement of diesel buses and they plan to fully accomplish this aim by the end of the 2020’s.
The cities around the world which plan to move ahead full steam on eliminating diesel fuel in the next few decades include San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Copenhagen and Cape Town.
Meanwhile, Madrid, Paris and Mexico City have resolved to eliminate diesel buses from their streets by 2025. Mr Khan stated:
“I want London to become a world leader in hydrogen and electric bus technology. I’m implementing hard-hitting measures to clean up London’s toxic air, and it’s great that more cities are getting on board to phase out the procurement of pure diesel buses, which sends a clear signal that only the cleanest technologies are wanted in our cities.”
He has committed to purchasing approximately 300 zero-emission buses by 2020, and more than 50 battery-powered electric buses have already been put into service on the 507/521 route.
Sadiq Khan aims for all London buses to comply with the Ultra-Low Emission Zone standard throughout 2020 as part of his focus on air pollution in the city.
The C40 Climate Change Leadership Group of Cities recently announced its plants to host a Finance Academy in April so that it can help cities fund additional zero-emission buses and the supporting infrastructure, which is generally more expensive than the purchase of pure diesel buses.
[maxbutton id="3" url="http://www.myveh
Author
Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader
in automotive intelligence and vehicle
data supply to the entire motor industry.
He has almost 20 years experience in
building systems from the ground up.
As the Managing Director of Vehicle
Management System, he understands the
need and importance of trustworthy and
reliable vehicle history and advice to
both the trade and the public.
Follow me on LinkedIn