A fleet of 20 buses will be converted due to a shortage of hydrogen to run them.
Half of the vehicles were used intermittently by Arriva since their 2023 introduction but only half of them have been in operation due to the lack of their main fuel.
Rival operator Stagecoach, meanwhile, has not carried passengers on theirs.
Now the Liverpool Clty Region Combined Authority has confirmed that they will be converted to battery power with only 450 passenger-carrying journeys made to date.
The cost of conversion will be met by the vehicles’ supplier, meaning it will have no financial knock-on effect to the taxpayer across the regions five boroughs.
However one transport committee member slammed the original scheme, bought through the Transforming Cities Fund in 2021, as ‘a waste of time and money’.
The buses, which cost £10 million at the time, were designed to serve the region’s busiest route – the 10A between St Helens and Liverpool city centre.
Cllr Liz Makinson, from the LCRCA transport committee, described the move to convert as ‘the right decision’ but suggested the buses were procured ‘on a whim’.
A spokesperson for the LCRCA said: “Following a thorough review of the Liverpool City Region’s hydrogen bus pilot the decision has been taken to convert the region’s 20 hydrogen buses to battery electric.
“The costs for this conversion will be met by the vehicle supplier as part of their ongoing commitment to support the introduction of an electrical bus fleet in the City Region.
“Once these works are complete the vehicles will join the hundreds of others entering service as part of the region’s move towards a franchised network.
“Our commitment to decarbonising the region’s bus network by 2035 remains.
“Earlier this year, we announced the purchase of over 100 new fully electric buses and, once repowered, these vehicles will join this fleet.”