Stagecoach East Scotland is launching nine electric buses supplied by the BYD ADL partnership on local services in Perth. The buses were part-funded by the Scottish Government’s Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme (SULEBS).
The fleet of nine BYD ADL Enviro200EV single deckers will operate on busy Perth routes 1 and 2, connecting housing areas with the city centre, retail and leisure developments, Perth Royal Infirmary, educational establishments and local football ground. The zero-emission buses were built locally in Falkirk by ADL in partnership with BYD. Locally headquartered low carbon energy company SSE is partnering with Stagecoach to deliver the new electrical infrastructure at Perth depot.
Stagecoach is introducing a total of 46 new fully electric buses in key transport networks in Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Perth as part of SULEBS, all of which are to be supplied by the BYD ADL partnership.
Douglas Robertson, Managing Director for Stagecoach East Scotland, said: “We are all really excited to be introducing our first fully electric vehicles in East Scotland thanks to the Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme and the funding made available for us to deliver this. There has never been a more important time to take action to address the climate emergency and play a part in helping Scotland deliver on its net zero ambitions.
“Stagecoach is the UK’s biggest investor in hybrid-electric bus technology, and we have invested more than £1billion in new greener buses over the past decade. Without Stagecoach bus services, there would be an annual increase of 190,000 tonnes of CO2 through passengers using alternative transport. These investments are expected to deliver an estimated annual reduction of around 67,000 tonnes of CO2e from its fleet of more than 1,200 buses in Scotland in less than 15 years.”
ADL President and Managing Director Paul Davies said: “Stagecoach continues to be at the front of investment in sustainable mobility and this new electric bus fleet for Perth is further testament to the group’s ambition in supporting not only the Scottish Government in its targets, but also underpinning skilled jobs and apprenticeships in the world-class UK bus manufacturing industry.
“We are proud that our innovations continue to enable Stagecoach in delivering greener journeys. We look forward to continuing to work with Stagecoach and the Scottish Government in decarbonising the country’s bus fleet.”
Frank Thorpe, Managing Director of BYD (UK), added: “BYD is a world-leader in e-mobility solutions, and we are delighted to share our expertise in batteries and electric technology as part of our ongoing successful eBus partnership with ADL. It is a privilege to be involved in such a momentous delivery of pure-electric buses to Stagecoach East Scotland, in the knowledge that while benefiting the environment, their production has also supported the local economy, directly helping people in Scotland.”
Kevin Welstead, EV Sector Director of SSE Energy Solutions, commented: “We fully support the drive to decarbonise public transport in Scotland through our role as the EV infrastructure partners of choice for Stagecoach in this project. Given that SSE is headquartered at Perth we want to see cleaner and greener transport options for the area. We are also proud to be working with Stagecoach on a pilot scheme to trial EV community hubs, which mean the local population could also benefit from charging infrastructure once the electric buses are out on shift in the day.”
