Greater Cambridge Partnership and Stagecoach East unveil first electric buses to serve Greater Cambridge
The new zero-emission vehicles – two of 15 in Stagecoach’s national bus fleet – can travel 160 miles on a single charge and will operate on the Cambridge citi 6 route serving the city centre, Girton and Oakington to provide cleaner and greener journeys for thousands of people every day.
The Greater Cambridge Partnership has provided around £400,000 to help introduce the vehicles into service. The public money representing the difference in cost between two modern, ultra-low emission EuroVI vehicles, and these fully electric vehicles.
Alexander Dennis has supplied the electric double deckers to Stagecoach for a project between the operator and the Greater Cambridge Partnership, supporting an improvement in air quality in the city centre of Cambridge and giving the opportunity to inform potential future investment in a zero emission bus fleet.
The BYD ADL Enviro400EV is built in ADL’s factories in Great Britain on chassis supplied by its electric bus partner for the UK market, BYD. Stagecoach has opted for the 4.2m low-height version of ADL’s City style body, seating up to 70 passengers on comfortable ADL SmartSeats. The 10.9m long vehicles provide room for a further 13 standees.
Video report by ITV News Anglia’s Stuart Leithes Click to view.
These two vehicles will give drivers, maintenance technicians and management at Stagecoach East’s Cowley Road depot valuable experience ahead of any future roll-out of electrification of the local bus fleet.
These are the first electric buses in Cambridgeshire as we work to transform public transport, cut congestion and improve the quality of the air we breathe.
Cllr Aidan Van de Weyer, chair of the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Executive Board
These electric buses, two of 15 in Stagecoach’s national fleet, will mean better journeys for thousands of people travelling in clean vehicles, with thousands more benefiting from less pollution on our busy roads.
To celebrate the launch, pupils from Girton Glebe and Oakington schools will name the two new electric buses. A panel from the Greater Cambridge Partnership and Stagecoach will choose a name put forward by each school for each of new buses, with the winning pupils invited to a special naming ceremony.
I’m looking forward to seeing what names schoolchildren come up with for the buses and finding out what people think about these eye-catching and emission-free vehicles as they transport people around the city.
Cllr Ian Bates, transport portfolio holder for the Greater Cambridge Partnership
We hope that ‘Bussy Mc Bus-Face’ will not make it to the short-list!
The new vehicles can travel 160 miles on a single charge. Cambridge’s citi 6 route has been chosen because it only requires two vehicles, each travelling just over 150 miles per day. Drivers have received extra training and the depot has been kitted out with special charging points.
The vehicles are kept on charge constantly whilst parked in Cowley Road depot until fully charged. Whist over the pits, or otherwise in maintenance, a portable charger is used.
All lighting is by low-energy LEDs, whilst interior heating is utilises air source heat pumps which, typically, produce 3kw to 4kw of heat for every 1kw of electricity consumed.
Over the years we have steadily reduced the environmental impact of our diesel buses and now 32% of the fleet have the most efficient Euro VI engines.
Michelle Hargreaves, Stagecoach East Managing Director
The addition of the electric vehicles is a further step forward in our attempts to keep emissions to a minimum. Over the past decade across the UK, Stagecoach has invested more than £1 billion in new greener vehicles and by the end of 2020 it will have one of the biggest electric bus fleets in Europe.
As a company committed to doing the right thing for our planet and our communities, Stagecoach is leading the way in the transition to a cleaner public transport future.
The new zero-emission buses will not only help to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality, but will also enhance the passenger experience due to smoother and quieter journeys.
“Smoother and quieter journeys”? Our secretary rode the citi6 to Oakington and reports that even the smoothest electric bus cannot iron out Cambridgeshire County Council’s potholes!
Meanwhile, 32% of Stagecoach East’s fleet have Euro VI engines; Euro 6 diesel cars produce on average 0.8g of NOxper Kilometre compared to Euro VI diesel buses that produce just 0.1g of NOx per Kilometre. These modern Euro VI – engined buses also have ultra-low particulate (PM10 and PM2.5 ) emissions.
Euro VI diesel bus engines are subjected to a regime of ‘real world’ testing which is not susceptible to the ‘gaming’ of the testing regime which has been seen with the testing of the Euro 6 light engine for cars, taxis and vans.
NOx is shorthand for oxides of nitrogen – nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide – that are produced when fuel is burned and that are harmful to the environment. PM10 and PM2.5 refer to microscopic particles smaller than 10µm and 2.5µm in diameter.
Sources:
- Stagecoach East press release
- Cambridge News report
- Cambridge Network report
- The Truck Expert report
- EV bus (BYD/ADL) press release
Please note that any advertisements which appear in association with these posts are not indicative of any endorsement by Cambridge Area Bus Users. They are placed there by a WordPress algorithm.
Comments (pre-moderated) may be made below.
Cambridge Area Bus Users 
Great to see the first two new vehicles starting work in the City quite a transformation and very much look forward to seeing further modernisation of the fleet in the coming year
LikeLike