Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) and BYD U.K. say their electric vehicle partnership has received an order for 22 BYD ADL Enviro200EV electric single deck buses from First Bus, one of the U.K.’s largest bus operators. Using BYD’s battery electric driveline technology, ADL will assemble the buses at its factory in Falkirk, Scotland.
The buses, which are part-funded by the Scottish government, will be deployed in Glasgow, Scotland, in time for the COP26 United Nations’ Climate Change conference, ahead of further electrification of the First Bus fleet in the city. This comes just seven months after First Bus announced its commitment to purchase no diesel buses after 2022 and to operate a fully zero-emission fleet by 2035.
“We are delighted to have been awarded this funding,” says Andrew Jarvis, managing director for First Bus in Scotland. “Cleaner air is vitally important to all of us in society and we are determined to play our part in the communities that we serve. In January last year, we launched the city’s first electric buses on a commercial bus route since the 1960s and we are proud that we can now build upon this with another 22 fully electric vehicles, which will replace the oldest buses in our fleet to further improve air quality in the city.”
The new electric vehicles, which will be 11.6 m long and seat up to 40 passengers each, will be based at the First Bus Caledonia depot in Glasgow. Charging facilities have already been installed there as part of an earlier project, which also saw a pair of similar BYD ADL Enviro200EV introduced at the start of 2020, giving the company valuable experience in the operation of electric buses.
Photo: The BYD ADL Enviro200EV electric single deck bus