The city in the Hebei province, located 120 miles northwest of the Chinese capital, was served by 444 of the buses during the Games as it hosted freestyle and Nordic skiing as well as snowboarding, excluding the big air discipline.

First used during the Olympics, the buses are able to start quickly in winter, with temperatures as low as -30°C.

Since the Olympic Games, which ran from February 4 to 20 last year, Zhangjiakou has continued to explore the use of hydrogen vehicles to take advantage of plentiful wind and solar energy resources.

The use of 710 hydrogen-powered vehicles by Beijing 2022 Zhangjiakou was the largest-ever demonstration of such transport at an Olympic Games.

Since then, hydrogen-powered vehicles in the city have carried over 80.7 million passengers and covered over 27 million kilometres, it has been revealed.

In addition to serving as public transportation, they are being used for street cleaning, logistics and to transport heavy cargo.

By 2025, China is aiming to have around 50,000 hydrogen vehicles in line with the National Development and Reform Commission and National Energy Administration plan.

It predicts that annual hydrogen production from renewable energy sources will be between 100,000 and 200,000 metric tons.

The plan aims to promote the development of the hydrogen energy industry, while local authorities are putting together detailed policies to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

The Beijing 2022 Organising Committee claimed that it was determined to stage a green Games, as detailed in its sustainability report that was released before the event.

It claimed that all competition venues were powered by renewable energy while "clean-energy" was used for all passenger cars and 84.9 per cent of vehicles used at the Games.