The combination of reliability, fuel efficiency and overall performance of the B5LH double-decker hybrid has resulted in great success for Volvo Buses
Volvo Buses has confirmed the sale of 1,000 B5LH hybrid buses in the UK – which the company called a milestone for both itself and for greener public transport across the nation.
The B5LH is a low-floor hybrid double-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo, and is the only double-decker in service to use a parallel hybrid drive system. It is available with Wrightbus, ADL or MCV bodywork.
Arriva was the first UK company to try out the new hybrid when six were supplied to the operator at launch in 2009, and to-date 2,535 Volvo hybrids have been sold worldwide. First Manchester also uses the Volvo hybrids, with a fleet of 20 B5LHs in service on its Vantage guided Busway.
Phil Owen, Commercial Sales Director for Volvo Buses, said: “Reaching the milestone of 1,000 Volvo Hybrid vehicles delivered in the UK is a significant sales achievement. The B5LH has been giving outstanding results here and worldwide and thanks to the reliability, fuel savings and overall performance of this bus, we have worked with our longstanding customers to keep selling this popular vehicle.
“With ongoing development of the B5LH in combination with the new versatile bodybuilder options, we hope to continue to retain the sales success we have seen in recent years.”
Richard Shillingford, Engineering Director for RATP Dev London, who will be taking delivery of the 1,000th Volvo B5LH added: “One of the biggest considerations in any vehicle procurement is fuel efficiency and reliability and we felt that Volvo Buses’ performance gave us what we were looking for with our new fleet additions going forwards.”
A long-standing customer of Volvo Buses is Go-Ahead London. The Group’s Engineering Director, Richard Harrington, commented: “We are one of the largest operators of Volvo buses in the UK and Ireland and the biggest bus operator in London and our continued patronage of the product is based on our previous good experience of excellent in-service performance and reliability.”
