First Bus is preparing to buy 23 Wrightbus StreetDeck Hydroliner double-decker hydrogen buses for £30,000 per bus, equivalent to only around 5.4% of their average original cost of £556,000. According to an analysis published by CleanTechnica, the deal provides the first direct market indicator of the residual value of a relatively modern hydrogen fleet in Aberdeen after hydrogen supply problems.
Aberdeen City Council spent around £13.9 million on the fleet of 25 buses, which entered service in 2021. However, the buses operated commercially for only around three and a half years before being withdrawn because of problems supplying hydrogen. This is therefore not a matter of used buses reaching the end of their operational lives, but of vehicles approximately five years old that lost the operating model for which they were designed.
The Market Put an Actual Price on the Asset
The importance of the deal lies not only in the low price, but also in the fact that the council actually tested the market instead of relying on accounting estimates of residual value. According to a confidential council briefing obtained by the Press and Journal, the council received four other offers after presenting the buses to potential buyers; these included offers to take them for free and another offer of £1 per bus.
Against this backdrop, First’s £30,000 price does not appear to be the result of exceptional negotiation or solely a special advantage for the buyer. It is the highest price among a group of offers that reveal the market’s willingness to buy specialized zero-emission vehicles linked to a propulsion system and supply infrastructure that no longer have an obvious commercial use at their current location. Aberdeen therefore provides a practical reference point for the debate over the residual value of hydrogen buses.
The Purchase Is Not an Expansion of Hydrogen Operations
The article says that First Bus does not appear to be buying the buses to expand its hydrogen operations, but instead is making plans to refurbish them for battery-electric operation. This is technically possible because the hydrogen bus already uses an electric drivetrain, but it does not mean replacing one component with another.
According to the analysis, the conversion will require removing the hydrogen tanks and fuel cells, and providing space and structural capacity for batteries with a capacity of up to several hundred kilowatt-hours, while recalibrating weight distribution and axle loads. It will also require integrating charging and thermal-management systems, modifying control systems and auxiliary components, and then certifying and warranting the vehicle after rebuilding. Therefore, the £30,000 purchase price is not the final cost, but the starting point for a larger investment decision.
Why First Is Well Positioned for the Test
First Bus has direct knowledge of the buses because it operated Hydroliners from the time they entered service and knows their maintenance records and operating condition. The company has also invested £12.7 million in Aberdeen to operate 36 electric buses, including 24 new Wrightbus electric double-deckers and 12 existing buses converted from internal-combustion engines to battery-electric propulsion.
The King Street depot includes direct-current fast-charging infrastructure, and First was the first British operator to order conversions from Wrightbus subsidiary NewPower, after helping develop the program through two demonstration vehicles. This experience reduces some of the risks of conversion, but does not eliminate them, nor does it mean that the project’s economics are settled.
So far, there is no announced commitment to convert all 23 buses. The available information does not include the battery capacity, the conversion supplier, the final engineering design, the cost per vehicle, the warranty package, or the date on which they will return to service. The buses are scheduled to be transferred in stages: seven buses before the end of March 2027 and a further 16 buses during the 2027–2028 financial year. There is also no published evidence of a contractual option allowing withdrawal from the deal, so it is not correct to describe it as an official conversion trial.
certi.news’s Reading: The Value May Lie in Removing the Hydrogen System
The Aberdeen case reveals an important difference between technology succeeding in operation and an asset retaining its value when its business model fails. A bus may perform its function and achieve its emissions-reduction objective, yet remain a poor investment if it ends up as an asset that only a very limited number of buyers are willing to acquire. Aberdeen bears most of the capital loss, while First obtains a body and vehicle approximately five years old at a low price that allows it to study conversion without paying the price of an ordinary used bus.
If First succeeds in building a reliable and economical electric bus from these vehicles, the case will demonstrate that some distressed hydrogen buses can be salvaged under favorable conditions: an extremely low purchase price, an operator that has known the vehicles since manufacture, a familiar platform, previous repowering experience, and existing charging infrastructure. But this success would not necessarily mean that hydrogen buses retained a high resale value; the recovered value may have resulted primarily from removing the equipment that made them hydrogen buses.
If the conversion proves uneconomic even under these conditions, the message for other distressed hydrogen fleets will be more difficult. Few fleets are likely to combine young vehicles, an extremely low purchase price, an experienced operator, a familiar platform, ready charging infrastructure, and an existing relationship with an entity capable of refurbishment. The deal therefore does not constitute a final judgment on all hydrogen buses, but it provides a realistic test of the exit value of this technological pathway and shows that the cost of removing the operating system may be more important than the vehicle’s efficiency during service.