Wrightbus has hit a significant milestone with the achievement of 50 million zero-emission miles delivered by the manufacturer thus far.
Hosting a celebration at its Ballymena production site, the company was visited by Local Transport Minister Simon Lightwood MP, who subsequently received a full tour of the facility.
Local Transport Minister, Simon Lightwood, said:Wrightbus reaching this phenomenal milestone shows local authorities and operators are driving down emissions and supporting new jobs.
Cleaner, greener buses will support 2,000 jobs here in Ballymena, as we continue to drive growth in the industries of the future.
The overall Wrightbus fleet, which includes a total of 1800 zero-emission buses, has thus far prevented the production of 85,000 tonnes of CO2 across 47 counties within the UK, as well as across multiple European countries including Turkey, the Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, France, Belgium and Germany.
Wrightbus has stated that it expects, with its current workforce of nearly 2,300 employees, to produce a record number of 1,200 buses by 2026, with 95% set to be zero-emission offerings.
Wrightbus CEO, Jean-Marc Gales, said:To have reached 50 million zero-emission miles is hugely significant, not only in terms of the part we’re playing in helping to decarbonise the public transport sector, but also in terms of the fantastic growth that we’ve undergone over the last five years.
At Wrightbus, we’re bucking the current downwards trend that is currently happening across the UK’s manufacturing sector and that achievement is significant.
It’s important not to forget that as a business, we employed just 56 people in 2019. That number now totals more than 2,300 and that will rise to 2,500 in the next 9 months. We will also support more than 7,500 jobs in the UK supply chain by the end of this year.
