Nottingham gets electric bus fleet

The first batch of electric buses run on the lines Red 50 and Pink 30. According to the press release, a further 12 electric buses will be delivered in May, and the remaining 24 “will enter service in the first half of 2025.”

The vehicles are supplied by bus manufacturer Yutong Bus and Coach. NCT adds that “about 40% of the value of the buses” was added when UK-bases Pelican Bus and Coach finished them “them to NCT’s requirements at their factory in Yorkshire.”

The electric buses are charged overnight at the Trent Bridge Garage in the Meadows. The infrastructure was supplied and will be maintained by te company Zenobē.

According to NCT, the total cost for the buses and the corresponding infrastructure is 32.2 million pounds. The Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) Fund funded the project with 13.4 million pounds. NCT has invested the remaining 18.8 million pounds.

“This is the very start of an exciting new era in the long history of NCT. We are keen to play our part as Nottingham aspires to become a carbon-neutral city,” says David Astill, NCT Managing Director. “The delivery of our first 24 electric buses marks just the start of a programme that will see our remaining diesel powered buses replaced by electrics as they become due for withdrawal.”

“This is a significant step for Nottingham City Transport on their journey to zero emissions,” says Ian Downie, Head of Yutong UK. “The Nottingham team have challenged us to produce a customer-centric vehicle, and we are extremely proud of what has been achieved.”

Update 26 July 2024

Nottingham City Transport has placed an order for another 14 Yutong battery-electric single-decker buses in the form of 11 E10 models and a trio of larger E12s. They will be supplied by Pelican Bus and Coach and delivered in early 2026.

The fleet already has 24 electric buses from Yutong running on Nottingham’s roads, which were acquired with financial support from the ZEBRA programme.

Sean O’Sullivan, Head of Engineering for NCT says that he was happy with the acquisition, but that the company has its next steps set out: “The first 24 vehicles have performed really well. We have seen energy efficiency increase by 10% as we have undergone an extensive driver training course during the vehicles’ implementation into our operations.”

nctx.co.uk, route-one.net, busandcoachbuyer.com (both update)