Lothian launches Scotland's first electric double-deckers

摘要

Funding from the energy industry has enabled Lothian Buses to put Scotland's first battery-electric double-deckers into service on a busy cross-city route in Edinburgh. SP Energy Networks, the power distribution division of Scottish Power, provided £1.7million towards four BYD/ Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV City 72-seaters which went into service on June 27 on the 15min frequency route 10 linking Western Harbour in the north with Torphin in the south-west. The financial assistance has come from SP Energy Networks' £20million Green Energy Fund that has also provided contributions towards First Glasgow's introduction early last year of two Enviro200EV single-deckers and charging infrastructure for these and more, and Stagecoach's purchase of six Volvo 7900e single-deckers for a route in Kilmarnock. Like those eight vehicles, Lothian's four double-deckers carry branding for SP Energy Networks and are painted in the corporate green of its Spanish parent company, Iberdrola. In common with other BYD vehicles, they have London registration marks. Although it has purchased significant numbers of hybrid Volvo single- and double-deckers in recent years and bought six battery-electric Wright Street Air single-deckers in 2017, Lothian's most recent purchases have all been of Euro6 diesel vehicles. It put 30 MCV EvoRa-bodied Volvo B8RLE single-deckers into service early this year and is taking delivery of an order for 90 Volvo B5TL double-deckers with Alexander Dennis Enviro400 bodies. "These new electric buses take our collaboration with Lothian Buses to the next step by further reducing emissions and improving air quality while continuing to reinvest in the Scottish economy and local communities where we assemble our buses," says Alexander Dennis president and managing director Paul Davies. Scottish government funding is set to bring more Enviro400EVs into service by the end of next year, with 91 ordered by First Glasgow, 22 by Stagecoach for Aberdeen and 12 by McGill's for its Xplore Dundee business (Scottish Column, May).