Alexander Dennis, a subsidiary of NFI Group Inc., a leader in bus and coach mobility solutions, today announced that 24 Enviro400EV battery-electric double-deckers have gone into service at English municipal operator Reading Buses.
The next-generation electric buses were launched at a special ceremony at Reading Buses’ Great Knollys Street depot on 5th February.
They are to be used on Reading’s busy flagship routes purple 17 and claret 21.
The 24 buses have been funded by the second round of the UK Government’s Zero-Emission Regional Bus Areas scheme (ZEBRA 2), in partnership with Reading Borough Council.
One of them has been given a special ‘ZEBRA’ livery, with branding on the bus that reads ‘Zero Emission Buses for the Reading Area’. A second is finished in ‘warming stripes’ that show how Berkshire’s average temperatures have risen over the last two centuries. This well-known visualisation of climate change was developed locally at the University of Reading.
The buses are fitted with the heavy-duty variant of the Driventic Vehicle Electrical Drive System (VEDS), with high-performance batteries storing up to 472kWh of energy.
A full charge will easily last all day, with 13 fast chargers fitted at Reading Buses’ Great Knollys Street depot, each capable of charging two buses at once.
The buses’ interiors are highly specified, with social seating, LED mood lighting, high-back seats with USB chargers, café-style flooring, a glazed staircase and rooflights, two wheelchair bays, and audio-visual next-stop information.
This is the first batch of electric double-deckers to go into service at Reading Buses, which has long been a pioneer of low-carbon fuels, notably biogas buses. The purple 17 was previously run with Alexander Dennis Enviro400CBG biogas double-deckers, which are being cascaded to other routes, replacing some of the operator’s oldest diesel buses.
The Alexander Dennis next-generation Enviro400EV is among the most energy-efficient electric double-deckers tested to Zemo Partnership standards in the UK Bus Cycle, and offers market-leading warrantable energy throughput of 1.6GWh over eight years.
Reading Buses was one of the first operators to place an order for the Enviro400EV. Its fleet is primarily Alexander Dennis.
The team chose the Enviro400EV primarily for its passenger layout and driver experience, both of which it said were better than any other of the electric demonstrators it tested.
A further eight Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV double-deckers are on order for Reading Buses, to go into service on the yellow 26 route in the near future.
Tom Ranson, Reading Buses Engineering Director; Chris Gall, Alexander Dennis Group Engineering Director; Robert Williams, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer; and Mark Taylor, Alexander Dennis Regional Sales Manager celebrate the launch of the Enviro400EV fleet
Speaking at the launch, Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer Robert Williams said: “I am beyond excited to be launching our first ever battery-electric buses at Reading Buses. More importantly than being zero emission, they are expected to bring a significant improvement in journey quality for our customers, with a smooth ride and rattle free high-quality interior designed to boost patronage with as few compromises to accommodate the technology as possible.”
Mark Taylor, Sales Manager for Alexander Dennis, said: “We are delighted to see these fantastic buses finally enter service in Reading. Reading Buses has an enviable reputation as an operator, especially in terms of their standards of customer experience, and over the years they have often been the springboard for Alexander Dennis’s next-generation vehicles.
“We’ve very proud to work so closely with them, and excited to receive feedback on the buses’ performance in service, which I’m sure will be exceptional.”
Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer Robert Williams cuts the ribbon on the new Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV fleet