Glasgow City Council’s overall ambition to become the UK’s first city to become fully carbon-neutral has been boosted by the purchase of five Mellor Orion E minibuses
Mellor has supplied five of its Orion E fully-electric, zero-emission, low-floor small buses to Community Transport Glasgow (CTG) as part of a strategy to move to a fully electric fleet. This is in line with Glasgow City Council’s overall ambition to become the UK’s first city to become fully carbon neutral.
CTG is a charity committed to providing high quality, accessible, door-to-door transport to vulnerable individuals and groups throughout the city, transporting 75,000 passengers each year.
The Mellor Orion E was first launched in 2017, with an enhanced model introduced last year. It is the world’s first completely electric completely low-floor small bus designed to operate effectively in both the commercial bus market and with parallel services, such as welfare and dial-a-ride demand-responsive services.
Graham Dunn for Community Transport Glasgow, explained: “We decided two years ago that the time had come to take the plunge and start integrating electric vehicles into our fleet with a view to being all-electric by the end of 2020. At the time our fleet was made of old diesel minibuses, some with more than 300,000 miles on the clock and with the advent of the Glasgow low emission zone, we needed to take action. We sought funding which was provided from Scottish Power Energy Network (SPEN) through the Green Economy Fund to initiate the change. This is already transforming our organisation and the services we provide to our passengers.
“Our first Orion E entered service last December and we will have all five delivered by the end of February. It is great to see these exciting new buses which operate on the latest electric technology as part of our fleet. They will make a massive contribution to improving air quality in the city as well as contributing to Glasgow’s ambition to be carbon neutral ahead of 2030.”
John Randerson, Managing Director for Mellor Bus, added: “As a city, Glasgow has really ‘thrown down the gauntlet’ as part of its drive to achieve carbon neutrality before many other UK cities and at Mellor, we are pleased and proud to be supplying electric buses that will form such an important part of this strategy.
“It is exciting to see the Orion E on the streets of Glasgow providing valuable transport services to communities in and around the city and we are confident CTG, the drivers and passengers alike will all enjoy all the bus has to offer.”
Orion E’s 96kW six-phase motor is technologically advanced to deliver a peak torque value of 5000Nm to the front-wheel-drive system which has improved hill-climbing capability by 25% at up to 5,000 kgs GVW. Two independent strings of batteries can be combined to deliver 92 kWh of energy providing the fully occupied 16 passenger bus with a design range that exceeds 100 miles between charges even when utilising the inbuilt climate control system.
CTG was established to provide relief to communities of Glasgow, particularly in the East End and west of the city, who are in need of transport support due to age, mobility, mental and physical disability, illness and poverty. It currently transports 75,000 passengers each year with more than 70% being older adults over 65.
