Aberdeen City Council voted to sell its fleet of 25 hydrogen-powered double-decker buses and begin negotiations to exit a joint venture with the oil giant BP to produce green hydrogen.
The decision, taken behind closed doors on Thursday, effectively ends a decade-long experiment that the Scottish oil capital had used to brand itself as a global hydrogen pioneer.
The council of Scotland’s third largest city has authorized its commercial chief Craig Innes to sell the Wrightbus-built vehicles “to secure a capital receipt.”
Additionally, it also approved a “managed exit” from BP Aberdeen Hydrogen Energy Limited, the joint venture formed in March 2022 to build a green hydrogen production hub at a former landfill site in Torry.
The 25 buses, each costing approximately £500,000 ($673,000) and introduced in 2021 with funding from the Scottish Government and the European Union, have been out of service since July 2024.
They have not carried a single passenger in about one and a half years.
Leaked council documents obtained by The Press and Journal, which first reported the decision, stated that the energy market had shifted “significantly” away from hydrogen toward battery-powered electric vehicles.
The council confirmed that discussions with BP were prompted by “significant advancements in EV technology” and declining demand for hydrogen in transport.
“As manufacturers and operators increasingly favour EVs, demand for hydrogen in transport has diminished,” a council spokesman said.
The Hareness Road site, originally intended to produce up to 300 tonnes of green hydrogen annually using solar power from the adjacent Ness landfill, could now be repurposed for electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The council had committed £20 million to the first phase of the partnership.
BP made a final investment decision on the hub in mid-2024, with construction expected to begin before year-end and production targeting 2026.
Aberdeen’s bet
Aberdeen began deploying hydrogen vehicles more than a decade ago and had branded its double-deckers as a world first, with more than 2 million passengers riding them over six years.
At its peak, the city operated 85 hydrogen-powered vehicles across buses, council fleet vehicles, and waste trucks.
First Bus, which leases the fleet from the council, confirmed the project had concluded.
“Following a review the council has taken the decision not to continue with hydrogen bus technology,” a spokesman said, adding that two in every five of its Aberdeen buses are already zero-emission and that it aims for a fully zero-emission fleet nationwide by 2035.
Hydrogen Scale Back
In Germany, H2 Mobility shut down 22 hydrogen refuelling stations last year, and the world’s first hydrogen-only passenger rail service in Lower Saxony reverted to diesel after fuel cell shortages.
Montpellier scrapped a planned order of 50 hydrogen buses in favor of battery-electric vehicles, and Flemish operator De Lijn dismantled its hydrogen fuelling station after formally abandoning the technology in 2023.
