BYD ADL and Yutong in First Bus Scotland 74 EV order
First Bus has confirmed receipients of orders for 74 further battery-electric single-deck buses for its remaining fleets in Scotland.
The BYD ADL partnership will build 50 Enviro200EV examples for First Glasgow’s Scotstoun depot. Pelican Bus and Coach will supply 24 Yutong E12 models to First Aberdeen. The latter will be the first vehicles from Yutong for First in Scotland.
First has committed £35m to the 74 buses and their associated infrastructure, with the BYD ADL batch accounting for £19.7m and the Yutong deliveries £8.4m. In addition, £4.8m will be invested in Scotstoun and £2.1m in Aberdeen to install rapid charging points. That work is expected to take 12 months to complete, with the first buses to arrive in 2023.
A further £18.6m from the first round of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus challenge fund is going towards the vehicles and their infrastructure.
Completion of the delivery will see 50% of the First Aberdeen fleet become zero-emission. The Yutongs will operate there alongside two batches of Wrightbus StreetDeck Hydroliner hydrogen fuel cell-electric double-deckers. The 50 BYD ADL buses that form part of the latest order will take First’s operation in Glasgow to 40% battery-electric in conjunction with extensive work at its Caledonia depot.
First Bus Scotland Managing Director Duncan Cameron says the operator is “proud” of the progress it has already made on decarbonisation. The latest order represents a further significant step on the group’s quest to have an entirely zero-emission fleet by 2035. It follows hot on the heels of a deal struck with Wrightbus for 193 battery-electric buses for First Bus fleets in England.
Mr Cameron adds that modal shift will allow zero-emission buses to have a greater impact on emissions and air quality. “These state-of-the-art electric vehicles will provide a more pleasant journey for passengers, and we hope that they will encourage more people living in these cities to leave their cars behind in favour of bus travel.”
Yutong battery-electric double-decker coming in 2023
Pelican Bus and Coach will introduce a long-anticipated Yutong battery-electric double-decker bus to the UK in 2023, the dealership has confirmed.
A seed right-hand drive, 10.9m example has been constructed and is currently under test in China to simulate one million kilometres’ utilisation. That bus will be exclusively used for development purposes and it will not come to the UK, but once required testing markers are satisfied, Yutong will build a single-door demonstrator for Pelican.
While the product will be new in the UK, Head of Yutong Sales Ian Downie notes that Yutong has already placed battery-electric double-deckers into service in China and in right-hand drive, air-conditioned, three-axle form in Singapore. Learnings from those have influenced development of the UK vehicle. A rendering has been created indicating what the model will look like. It shares clear styling cues with the Singapore buses.
The UK double-decker will share the driveline of the Yutong E10 and E12 single-deckers that are already established in here, although it will come with 385kW/h of battery capacity. It will also have the same cab area.
Testing of the E12 by Zemo Partnership shows average energy consumption of slightly over 0.8kW/h per km. While Mr Downie says that average usage for the double-decker is expected to be slightly more owing to a larger frontal area and a greater saloon volume to heat or cool, “it will not be much more.”
The double-decker will allow optional specification of rapid charging provision via twin DC CCS2 connectors, each providing either 120kW or 150kW. Mr Downie adds that a maximum passenger capacity of 80 will be possible, with 68 seated. The body will be made of aluminium to minimise weight; the E10 and E12 are entirely steel.
Deliveries of the first customer double-deckers will be possible in 2023, he continues. The bus will have lithium iron phosphate batteries from CATL, which Mr Downie claims will give extended durability and energy density when compared to other chemistries.
Yutong Electrical Safety Standard (YESS) equipment will also be fitted to the battery-electric double-decker. That system includes a variety of precautions to protect the batteries against damage or fire. Mr Downie disclosed how YESS works during 2021.
Meet the brand: Geotab UK
We catch up with Tamara Rashford from Geotab UK Ltd to find out about the brand and its presence at Euro Bus Expo, on stand T22.
Tell us a bit about your company:
We are Geotab: a world leader in the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected transportation, and the #1 global telematics provider for two years running, according to ABI Research.
At our core, we help our customers better manage their fleets through advanced telematics, security, Internet of Things connectivity for vehicles, and powerful device-agnostic analytics. All of this compounds into real, actionable insights for our customers to optimise and enhance operations and operate sustainably.
Since our establishment in 2000, we’ve grown from a small family business to a global leader in fleet management solutions and vehicle tracking. In fact, we became the first telematics company to achieve 2 million connected vehicles built on a single, open platform–and we recently announced that we’ve crossed the 3 million subscriber threshold too, demonstrating the clear demand for data intelligence throughout the industry.
Today, we are one of the largest telematics companies in the world, processing more than 55 billion data points every single day across vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and fuel types: from GPS position, speed, engine information, idling, distance, battery insights, fuel usage, and much more. We have advanced support for more than 250 Electric Vehicle (EV) makes and models, plus over 9,000 Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) makes and models too–twice as many as any other fleet telematics provider.
We also set ourselves apart with a relentless focus on research and development, placing us consistently amongst the top leaders in technology innovation. Our most recent advancement arrived with the introduction of the Geotab GO9 series, bringing substantial hardware upgrades engineered from the ground up.
Tell us about your latest products, services, promotions or launches that visitors can hope to see on your stand:
We’ll be showcasing the breadth of the Geotab Bus & Coach offering, anchored by our GO telematics devices and the MyGeotab fleet management platform. Our platform offers actionable fleet management and vehicle maintenance solutions that can optimise operations, improve driver safety, and ensure that operators are empowered to deliver a consistently high level of service to their customers.
Typically, operators need a few basic things done right: knowing where their vehicles are, preventing breakdowns, controlling and improving driver behaviour, and ensuring optimal and efficient operations.
The technology in our GO devices plugs directly into the on-vehicle diagnostics interface, uncovering a wealth of valuable and insightful data for operators with this endeavour in mind. For example, should a coach exhibit a fault at an early stage, this can be alerted to managers immediately, saving potentially thousands of pounds in the future before it escalates further.
Similarly, the combination of real-time vehicle data and sensor insights can infer negative driver behaviour traits which can be utilised to directly inform future training and performance improvement, where required.
Finally, insights can be drawn to understand how vehicles are being used: for example, excessive idling for long periods of time or outside environmentally-sensitive areas such as schools and parks, or optimising vehicle usage and energy consumption to save money.
Underpinning this all is MyGeotab: the web-based fleet management platform that is available to all Geotab customers. For bus and coach fleets of any size, uniting all vehicle insights and data in one single place is a game changer in ensuring quicker, more informed decision making—from operational optimisation to robust vehicle maintenance monitoring.
We’ll be showcasing how our GO devices and MyGeotab can work together to provide bus and coach operators with the powerful fleet intelligence they need.
Why is exhibiting at Euro Bus Expo 2022 an unmissable opportunity for you?
The bus and coach market is very much near and dear to our heart and we work with some of the most well-known companies in the sector including DB Regio Bus, SBB AG, and many more.
We believe the bus and coach market is a sector that can draw a lot of value from the opportunity of telematics: from efficiency optimisation, driver safety, and of course future fuel transitions as the switch to zero-emissive fleets becomes a key priority.
As such, we’re incredibly excited to be exhibiting at this year’s Euro Bus Expo in Birmingham to meet and discuss how telematics can help support growth in this industry for years to come. We’ll be at stand T22 on the showfloor–looking forward to seeing you there!