Malaysia’s first hydrogen buses, made by Foshan Feichi Automobile Manufacture Co., Ltd, made their debut appearance on the streets of Kuching earlier this week. The three buses are part of a trial run programme scheduled to last till 14 August.

Foshan Feichi Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd is a commercial vehicle manufacturer located in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China. The product range includes bus, city bus, sleeper bus, plug-in hybrid city bus, electric city bus, luxury tourist coach bus, double-decker bus and fuel cell city bus amongst others.

The routes covered in the trial run are the Kuching Waterfront to Damai Beach in Santubong, Jalan Tun Abdul Rahman Yaakub to Medan Niaga Kubah Ria, Jalan Abell, Jalan Padungan, Jalan Sentral Timur, Jalan Tun Haji Openg, Jalan Satok, Jalan Kulas, Jalan Muda Hashim and Jalan Datuk Ajibah Abol.

The Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SDEC) recently announced that the Road Transport Department (RTD) and Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) had given their approval for the commissioning of the service.

SDEC General Manager Abdul Hadi Datuk Abdul Kadir said in a statement that the buses will not be ferrying any passengers during the trial run, because they needed to monitor their performance and address and refuelling issues that could arise due to factors such as weather, climate and traffic. He added that the trial run would test the buses on the consumption level of hydrogen fuel, to determine the filling capacity and the optimisation of the hydrogen plant operation.

The trial run will be closely monitored by officers from SDEC and engineers from Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), Foshan Feichi Automobile Manufacturing Co Ltd of China and Linde Hydrogen FuelTech.