Wrightbus has secured 26 million GBP in UK Export Finance-backed funding to take its hydrogen-powered double-deck bus to international markets.
UK Export Finance (UKEF) is providing the Northern Ireland-based bus manufacturer with an 80 percent guarantee on its major financing deal from Barclays. This includes an 18 million GBP Green Trade Loan and 8 million GBP Green Bank Guarantee, which will allow Wrightbus to export its zero-exhaust-emission buses to new markets.
Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch MP said:It’s fantastic to see Great British companies like Wrightbus take full advantage of the opportunities exporting opens up. By expanding into new markets, building on wins secured from our UK-Australia trade deal, and this new UKEF-backed support, they are driving growth and creating high-skilled green jobs in Northern Ireland.
Wrightbus launched the world’s first hydrogen-powered double-deck bus in 2020 and also produces electric-powered single and double-deck buses.
The company aims to manufacture 3,000 zero-exhaust-emissions buses by 2024. However, producing such vehicles is a capital-intensive process, the manufacturer says, so this financial support will enable Wrightbus to scale up production to meet demand, including its recent order to supply 120 double-deck buses to Ireland’s National Transport Authority (NTA).
Wrightbus’s aims to expand its exporting operations globally and it has ambitions to enter markets in Italy, France, Spain and Southeast Asia.
Ben Werth, Wrightbus Chief Commercial Officer, said:At Wrightbus, we are entering the next stage of our ambitious growth plan, significantly growing our export volume from our UK base and becoming one of the leading battery electric and hydrogen bus manufacturers in Europe. UKEF’s support will strongly help us on our future global growth path.
