“We believe that electric buses are the future,” says Engineering Director
National Express West Midlands has begun a trial of a BYD-ADL Enviro200EV – the first fully-electric bus to operate in Birmingham.
The operator has been lent a demonstrator for a week to test it on the streets of Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry.
Bernie Cassidy, Engineering Director at National Express West Midlands, said: “We believe that electric buses are the future.
“We’re working closely with central government, local councils and Transport for West Midlands through the Bus Alliance to make this a reality. Within 18 months, National Express plans to have electric buses operating regularly in Solihull, Birmingham and Coventry.
“However, although electric cars have been around for a while, this technology is relatively new in buses, and it’s very different from the vehicles we already have.
“So my team was really keen to get their hands on this demonstration model electric bus.
“We’ll be putting it through its paces, so we can see what it’s like to drive and maintain.”
A 307kw lithium-ion iron phosphate battery drives each of the single-decker’s rear wheels separately using 90kw hub motors.
The bus can do 160 miles on one AC charge, and can be fully charged in under four hours.
