The first Yutong U11DD battery-electric double-decker for First Bus arrived in the UK on 29 October. It is a precursor to 126 more as part of a 169-vehicle procurement that is part-funded by the second round of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme in England.

That seed vehicle introduces several improvements to the U11DD driven by feedback to dealer Pelican Bus and Coach by operators that have evaluated a pair of demonstrators.

Notably, the arrangement at the rear of the lower saloon has been significantly changed. While all seats there remain forward-facing, position of the first step within the aisle has been moved back and the ceiling above the two rearmost rows has been lifted to improve headroom.

As a result of the change to the aisle step positioning, the gangway is now flat as far as the drive wheels. On the upper deck, a shallow step in the aisle is present at the rear to match the raised ceiling in the same area downstairs.

Head of Yutong UK Ian Downie says that multiple more minor changes have been made, including addition of a magnetic cab door lock. Feedback from First Bus representatives has seen amendments to the position of the next stop displays and use of a new stop request button that illuminates once pressed. A powered sunblind is also fitted.

Yutong’s own seats will be fitted to the First Bus vehicles, with synthetic leather headrest inserts. A window is within the lower staircase area.

Although the bus has been delivered to Pelican with conventional mirrors for transport purposes, it will gain a camera monitoring system as part of a wider final fit-out and livery application by the dealership at its Castleford premises.

Yutong’s standard saloon air-conditioning is included along with 422kWh of battery capacity using lithium nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) chemistry. That energy storage has the Yutong Electric Safety System, as is the case across all the manufacturer’s battery-electric coach and bus models.

Mr Downie says that the first U11DD has been delivered ahead of the remainder as part of Pelican’s standard approach. It will permit operator readying for squadron service.

Depots at Basildon, Hengrove in Bristol, Weston-super-Mare and Yeovil are all scheduled to receive U11DD buses. 42 Yutong E10 and E12 battery-electric single-deckers also form part of the procurement.

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