Stagecoach orders 158 electric buses from Yutong
According to British media reports, the 158 electric solo buses are intended for various cities, including Chesterfield, Slatyford, Rugby, Leamington, Nuneaton, Stockton, Preston and Sunderland. They will be delivered between July 2024 and the third quarter of 2025. The electric fleet is being procured with the help of several government grants – including from the UK government’s ZEBRA 2 funding pot.
With 23 solo electric buses just delivered for use in Sheffield and previous deliveries, the new order will bring Stagecoach’s total number of Yutong electric buses to over 200 in the coming year. According to the company, this will make it the largest operator of these buses in the UK.
Stagecoach also ordered 244 electric buses from Alexander Dennis this week. This is the manufacturer’s largest order for electric buses to date. Deliveries will be made in 2025 and 2026. Funding from ZEBRA 2 is also being used here.
In March, the British government announced funding commitments totalling £143 million to support the procurement of 955 new zero-emission buses in 25 English municipalities. The second round of the funding programme was announced in September 2023, with a budget of £129 million at the time.
As part of the programme, the Department for Transport will subsidise up to 75 per cent of the additional costs of a zero-emission bus compared to a conventional diesel bus of the same class. The vehicles must be ordered by 31 January 2025. It is important that they are emission-free buses – whether battery-electric or with a fuel cell is irrelevant. However, experience from the first round has shown that the majority of operators are in favour of batteries.
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