Transport to the Future

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Future transport fundraising boost for museum

An exhibition at Grampian Transport Museum, using the history of land transport to explore and explain the future beyond the fossil fuel burning internal combustion engine, has been given a major boost for 2021.

Launched for the 2019 season, ‘Probing the Future’ was created as a new venture harnessing current knowledge and future development plans from industry leaders such as BP, BMW, Tesla and Mapix, to explain to visitors the latest technology being used in the development of electric and autonomous vehicles. Housed in a specially created ‘walk through’ area on the museum’s mezzanine floor and made fully accessible with a newly installed wheelchair lift, this opportunity to look into the future of land transport has proven extremely popular and was shown to change perceptions of visitors towards electricity being the fuel source of their own cars in the future.

This ability to showcase future transport technology has taken a major step forward for the 2021 season with an exciting new exhibit gifted to the museum by Aberdeenshire Council. The North East has been at the forefront of trialling Hydrogen power in public transport through running a fleet of EU-funded prototype VanHool single deck buses in the City and Shire for the past five years. One of these mobile test bed vehicles, as run by Stagecoach, will now be displayed at the museum to enable visitors to see how the future of clean air public transport is being developed.

Museum curator Mike Ward is very excited about the new exhibit: “The watchword of GTM is to always be ‘topical and relevant’ and the science behind the use of hydrogen for powering vehicles is fascinating and a story worth telling, especially as the global energy hub of the North East is playing a leading role in its development. The gas is 4 passed through a ‘fuel cell’ to create electricity which is then used to drive one or more electric motors. The only exhaust emission is water and the vehicle is quiet and >>>

SIV I T N N ING

OPENING APRIL 1ST 2021 OPENING APRIL 1ST 2021 BOOK ONLINE AT WWW.GTM.ORG.UK BOOK ONLINE AT WWW.GTM.ORG.UK

GILLIAN FROST 07812 565263

smooth, benefitting both local air quality and the overall climate. The emerging technology is quite complex so to have this opportunity to let our visitors understand it is a wonderful addition to our ‘Probing the Future’ exhibition, which is also helping to fulfil the museum’s important educational role by attracting visits from science students, teachers and schools.

A recent crowdfunding campaign by the museum has raised £12,000 to build a new outside hard standing display area at the rear of our building, with new access door and covered walkway, and also to create a ‘cinema style’ interpretation centre within the bus to explain the technology and to illustrate the local story.

Following the initial five-year trial with these Northern Ireland Wrightbus built single deck buses, the City of Aberdeen recently took delivery of the world’s first hydrogen powered double decker bus from the same company, again with EU funding, and is now set to run the world’s largest fleet of Hydrogen powered double decker buses, leading towards cleaner air in the city centre and meeting the city’s ‘net zero’ emissions target.

The new museum exhibit at Alford will offer a unique opportunity for visitors to understand exactly how this technology works, the benefits it brings and the North East’s leading role in developing it.