Electric bus order helps Nottingham’s 2028 carbon neutral goals

Nottingham City Transport has ordered its first electric single deck buses and appointed London headquartered Zenobē Energy as the delivery partner for the electrification of 78 buses, based out of the city’s historic Trent Bridge Bus Garage, once home to horse drawn trams.

As the delivery partner on the project, Zenobē, a leading EV fleet and battery storage specialist, will supply the charging infrastructure. It will draw on its extensive experience working with 90% of the major bus companies in the UK, providing the charging infrastructure for the site, as well as managing construction, delivery and implementation of its charging software, working to optimise the fleet and run an efficient service for the operator.

The infrastructure is designed to allow NCT to extend the electric fleet in future, aligned with the operator’s net-zero ambitions.

Pelican Bus & Coach will deliver the first 12 fully zero-emission electric buses to join the NCT fleet, which are expected to enter service in late 2023.

The vehicles are manufactured by China’s Yutong, the largest bus and coach manufacturer in the world, with over 133,000 zero emission vehicles delivered to date and 32 billion kilometres of tried, tested and proven operating experience.

These 12.2m-long buses will be fully accessible, feature full electric air-conditioning, provide a quiet travelling experience with no engine vibration or noise and have free Wi-Fi and USB charging points on board.

Liam O’Brien, NCT’s Head of Engineering said, “Following a rigorous public procurement process and operational trials of several electric buses, Yutong and Zenobē were a clear winner to deliver our first electric buses. With the software and charging service provided by Zenobē, the buses can do a full days’ operation on a single, overnight, charge, which is essential for ensuring we can keep them all on the road throughout the day.”

Ian Downie, Head of Yutong UK at Pelican Bus and Coach said, “We are absolutely delighted and honoured to have been awarded this contract to work in partnership with NCT. The vehicles will be fully completed at our family-owned dealership in Castleford, and we look forward to supporting Nottingham on their zero emission journey”.

Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Transport and Parks, Councillor Audra Wynter, said, “These new state of the art electric buses are fantastic news for Nottingham. Getting more people using greener public transport is a key part in tackling the twin emergencies of toxic air pollution and climate breakdown. These electric buses will help Nottingham to reach our carbon neutral 2028 goals while getting people around the city quickly and easily as part of our award-winning bus network.”

Steven Meersman, Co-Founder and Director at Zenobē added, “We’re thrilled to be delivering our first infrastructure in Nottingham and to be working in collaboration with Nottingham City Transport. We know that bringing 78 buses to the local area will have a huge impact on emissions and bring the City of Nottingham closer to its ambition of being carbon neutral by 2028. We are proud to be a part of this project.

“Working across the public and private sector is essential to scaling emissions reductions faster, and we’re looking forward to delivering a greener service to the city”.

When NCT’s electric bus project is fully delivered, 3,800 tonnes of CO2e will be saved each and every year. Over the lifetime of the buses, they will also make a significant contribution to wider efforts to improve air quality, with an estimated 31 tonnes of harmful NOx and 777kg of PM2.5 removed from the atmosphere.

This £34m project is being supported with £15.2m from the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) Fund.