Wrightbus and Ryze Hydrogen owner Jo Bamford has established Fuze, an asset finance company that will work exclusively with zero-emission buses built by the Ballymena manufacturer.
Fuze will “offer a turnkey solution to help operators to get more buses on the road in the race to net zero.” It will be headed by experienced bus industry asset finance professional Ben Werth, who joins from Mistral Group.
“Working in collaboration with our sister companies Ryze Hydrogen and Wrightbus, we have developed a total cost of ownership model encompassing the infrastructure, vehicles, fuel and repair and maintenance for the duration of the contract, and then distilling that down into a single monthly fixed cost,” says Mr Werth.
“This is available across the entire Wrightbus range of hydrogen fuel cell-electric and battery-electric buses – single- or double-deck – over varying lengths of contract, dependent on the operator’s requirement.”
Single-deck buses with each zero-emission technology will be launched by Wrightbus later this year. Adds Mr Werth: “Jo and everyone who works at Wrightbus know that government grants alone are not enough for bus operators to meet their own publicly stated zero-emission targets.
“There are many moving parts within the transition to net zero. To achieve that, a collaborative partnership approach between manufacturers, funders and operators is required. Fuze, by being a specialised zero-emission-focused asset finance company, is an integral part of this process.”
Fuze’s offering is supported by telematics system WB Uptime 365. It gives real-time information on a vehicle’s performance, and it also uses artificial intelligence to allow a predictive rather than reactive maintenance regime. The predictive element is key to Fuze being able to offer repair and maintenance for the duration of an agreement.
