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With the Director of LibertyBus confirming an electric bus is due to be trialled in Jersey next week, the future of sustainable transport on the island is once again in the spotlight....
LibertyBus Director Kevin Hart has said that for a couple of days next week, the Higer Steed will be testing the island’s roads to see if it’s suitable for Jersey.
Speaking on this week's Bailiwick Podcast, Mr Hart said the bus will be trialled by drivers to see how it fares on the island's terrain and how the battery holds up.
Pictured: The Higer Steed is already being trialled in Guernsey, and is coming to Jersey next week.
The Higer Steed model is currently being trialled in Guernsey too, having been put to the test on numerous island routes there over the last few days.
It comes after an initial trial in 2019 for an electric double decker bus, though this model was not deemed suitable for Jersey's roads.
Mr Hart explained that this new trial also would hinge on whether the bus fitted Jersey's "business model," such as ensuring that drivers were able to have full contact with customers without barriers like a glass window.
He said of the trial: "We need to see it in the flesh, we need to see how it works and then we've got to make sure if it's something as an option and if it reaches all its says it can reach now, is it a viable option?"
Ahead of the test, Express spoke to some voices in the debate about the future of sustainable public transport in the island, and what the potential options are...
Whilst the electric bus has already been trialled by LibertyBus once before, some argue that there are even more sustainable options for Jersey's public transport sector.
One of these touted options is Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology, which creates electricity through an endothermic reaction recombining hydrogen and oxygen to make water, so you only ever get water vapour as a byproduct.
Pictured: Earth Project Jersey Chairman Andrew Le Quesne put forward the idea that buses and heavy vehicles in particular should be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
Andrew Le Quesne, Chairman of Earth Project Jersey, said that for buses and heavy vehicles in particular, Hydrogen Fuel Cell powered engines were the way forward.
"The problem is that it's heavy commercial vehicles that contribute the bulk of emissions and pollution," Mr Le Quesne explained.
Citing examples in practice, Mr Le Quesne highlighted Aberdeen's recent inclusion of hydrogen-powered double deckers onto their road.
They have currently reached a total of 100,000 miles and stopped 170,000kg of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere – the equivalent of taking 42 cars off the road for a year.
Though acknowledging that hydrogen buses or engines for the midibus - the single decker bus that Jersey uses - were not yet available, he said that it was "only a matter of time."
He said that he had been working with consultants and having conversations with officials about the possibility of bringing them to Jersey and working with manufacturers on them.
Pictured: Plans to bring in new leased 'hopper' buses will include the possibility of them being run on HVO biodiesel engines, something Mr Le Quesne says will be a good interim measure before switching to zero-emission tech.
Acquiring the buses could be done in two ways, he claimed - though at the moment, hydrogen buses are more costly than diesel buses, there was also the option of switching the existing buses' engines on a leased basis, and saving the cost of replacing buses.
"There's a couple of manufacturers who are looking at the idea of a leasing arrangement, so we would send our buses back to the factory, they would be completely overhauled, refurbished and updated, and have the engine changed," he explained.
He concluded that: "In theory, as we head towards 2030, we would hope to have the bus fleet converted to hydrogen fuel cells so they would effectively be zero emission."
To bridge the interim gap in which this technology is developed and acquired, which he said would be done by 2030, he encouraged the States to remove the premium on duty for HVO biodiesel could create a sustainable path towards hydrogen.
"At the moment it's 50p a litre more expensive than dirty diesel, and so if for instance the bus company and the skip lorries and refuse lorries," he summarised.
"If they sign up with an undertaking to convert to hydrogen fuel cell over the next, for say, five years, but in the interim they get the subsidy, they get subsidised biodiesel."
Another voice in the debate has suggested there is a type of biofuel that could offer the complete solution to the issue of zero-emission sustainability, rather than just an interim measure.
Philip Hosken, Managing Director of the the former Varneys Garage in La Motte Street, has been leading Bio Engine Technology Ltd, which with European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) support has been designed and developed an engine that is suitable for heavy goods vehicles, buses and marine craft.
Pictured: Philip Hosken has suggested that bioethanol could offer a complete zero omission solution.
They are proposing that buses run "universally available bioethanol" - also known as methylated spirits or alcohol - a fuel type Mr Hosken says has been around since biblical times when it was used for lamps.
"All it's got in its exhaust is what the fuel that's been burnt produces, and that's neutral CO2 and water vapour," he explained.
The company he leads has now designed an engine - the Herbl Rankine Cycle - which runs purely on the fuel, which he said will ensure people take it up and prevent oil companies continuing to sell fossil fuel substitutes for engines.
Illustrating the potential power, he noted that "diluted by 25%, the fuel powered the WW2 V2 rockets at 3,500 m.p.h. to a height of 128 miles," and that it runs on a two cylinder engine, with the equivalent power strokes to a V8 Otto Cycle engine.
Comparing it to other technologies, he claimed that it was the most sustainable option, particularly for buses, partly due to its "tremendously high" torque, and a flexible engine that can be scaled to any use, without the reliance on batteries that come with electric vehicles.
However, he said they now needed people to invest in and manufacture the engines, as they were struggling to convince the UK Government and the EU of subscribing to technologies outside of battery and hydrogen power.
He suggested Jersey and its bus fleet could be ground zero for the technology, which could be distributed to developing countries that could not produce their own hydrogen or electricity infrastructure.
"We're not trying to come up with any blue skies technology, anything that has to be solved - all we have to do is make one or two and try them out, because we've done all the technical side of it," he explained.
Returning to battery powered ideas, EVie Director, Gavin Breeze, is hoping to see an increase in the amount of shared electric vehicles across the island, both to help ease the transition to carbon neutrality and create a more sustainable network.
Pictured: EVie want to see an increased network of shared electric cars and bikes on Jersey's roads to help aid the transition to sustainable, zero-emission transport.
EVie is currently the islander's provider of shared electric vehicles, with 140 dockless e-bikes, 12 cars and 2 vans, as well as additional I3s and Nissan Leafs in its fleet, and 80 Evie Bluebikes.
Over the past two years, there have been 80,124 bike rides and 3,546 car rides, across 28,300 users, and 72.8 tons of CO2 saved in total.
But looking ahead to the future of potential sustainable transport, EVie are hoping to increase their fleet up to 100 cars on the road, to demonstrate that cars would have the same uptake as bike rides would have if more were on the road.
"We would like to be able to prove that the same adoption levels can be done with cars as well as bikes, but the only way to do that is deploying cars at a far greater scale than we are currently able to do ourselves," Mr Breeze explained.
He said that in particular, as diesel cars are due to go off the market in 2030, having shared vehicles around the island will make it easier for people to transition, considering the high costs of electric vehicles alone.
The company are also working with Andium Homes to put shared vehicle spaces in empty car parking spaces, as well as a programme to electrify all of their car parks with charging points - they are also working with Dandara on similar provisions for construction sites.
Similarly, he pointed to progress in a planning application for the overhaul of the Savoy, which has allowed for 8 shared car spots within their plan.
Whereas planning currently mandates for between .7 and 1 car parking space per unit in a multi-occupancy dwelling, Mr Breeze said he would like to see a similar rule be instilled in planning for shared car parking spaces too - but that they would need the support of the Government to get laws changed to include it.
Pictured: EVie director Gavin Breeze said he would "dearly love" to work more closely with the Government to extend their network.
However, flagged up his concern that a recent consultancy report from Oxera on net-zero targets had not mentioned shared electric vehicles, and that he would hope that the Government would engage with making it an integral part of their plans still.
"Normally there is a three legged stall, which is the local authority, the construction company, and the car share operator, all of which is enshrined in a legally binding contract," he explained.
"In Jersey the third leg, which is in our case, the States, doesn't exist yet. There are hints from planning that this is a good thing, but there's no equivalent planning obligation agreement that's been done yet."
With this in mind, the company are looking to the Government to help encourage this and help fund getting more shared vehicles on the road.
"We would dearly love to be working far, far more closely with Government to try and extend this out to different markets - in particular, the cars - and if and when e-scooters are allowed, we're certainly interested in that," he concluded.
"Because the best way to do this for everybody's maximum benefit is to be working closely with the States."
For LibertyBus, Kevin Hart said that currently six of their fleet are equipped to run on HVO biodiesel, and their three newly leased town hopper buses are too - he said they would focus on biodiesel until they get a concrete option for what sustainable energy to use.
"I think biofuel in my opinion is probably a stepping stone... so it's short term - but when I say short term, it's probably a good five year plan in a lot of businesses," he explained.
"The real aim is do you go electric or do you go hydrogen... hydrogen is another product that's on the market, but then you need a hydrogen plant - but then we've been in discussions with people who are trying to push that in Jersey."
Pictured: LibertyBus director Kevin Hart said he was remaining open to ideas for sustainable transport.
He said that the current main barrier for both technologies was still the unique single decker bus size for Jersey's roads, and "whether the manufacturers will actually play ball" with it.
In the meantime however, they have been collaborating on ideas with partners such as EVie, with work ongoing in the background to see if EVie's apps could work on their buses, suggesting someone could buy a bus ride and a bike hire on the same ticket.
"What I can say today isn't going to be the same thing as I'm going to say next week as something might have changed," he stated.
"But we've got to be in it and we've got to be looking at it and the future is something we want to be part of on this island... because we want to make sure Jersey adopts the sustainable transport policy and hits that goal of 2030 carbon [neutral] emissions set out by Government.
"So that's where we want to be and how we get there is going to be an interesting journey I think."
Jersey: Next stop - carbon neutrality (12 August 2021)
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