The largest UK electric bus operation outside of London attracts attention from around the world. Angela Youngman reports
Nottingham is justly proud of its high profile success in the UK Bus Awards. 2017 marked its third Environment Award when it secured Gold, having gained a Silver in 2014, and a Gold in 2015 for varying stages of its six-year Electric Bus Project.
As Mark Yexley, Chairman of the UK Bus Awards commented at the time: “The judges were very impressed with what’s believed to be the largest electric bus operation outside of London. It’s a really pioneering approach in Nottingham.” [wlm_nonmember][…]
By subscribing you will benefit from:
- Operator & Supplier Profiles
- Face-to-Face Interviews
- Lastest News
- Test Drives and Reviews
- Legal Updates
- Route Focus
- Industry Insider Opinions
- Passenger Perspective
- Vehicle Launches
- and much more!
Large scale vision
“It is the size of the operation here that surprises people,” said Steve Cornes who is Nottingham City Council’s Electric Bus Project Manager. “We don’t have just one or two electric buses, but 58 vehicles and our own charging points on roadsides and at three depots. People come from everywhere to see what we have done. In Europe this includes Sweden, Germany, Holland and France. Wellington, New Zealand had a conference call with us, Christchurch New Zealand has been in touch and we have presented the project findings across the UK and Europe. Visitors range from government officials, transport operators and charities to academics. People want to know how the project was achieved. When we started it, we were concentrating on greenhouse gases and affordability rather than air quality.”
He continued, “We are very proud of winning these UK Bus Awards and of the success of the project. It represents a lot of work, blood, sweat and tears. This project started with hardly any people: Andy Gibbons, the Head of Public Transport at Nottingham City Council was the man behind the idea and vision for electric buses in the city. Ian Combellack implemented the vision on the fleet side. I focused on the technical side. For the past five years I have been managing almost everything from applying for grants and writing and assessing vehicle tenders, to planning and constructing the charging bases. One day I can be applying for funding, the next I could be designing a charger canopy or a charging cable stand.”
Going green citywide
Steve Cornes was initially recruited into the Energy and Sustainability team at Nottingham City Council as Staff Travel Coordinator before moving onto transport projects trialing bioethanol buses. He became involved in the Council’s wider green agenda, reflecting his diverse work experience. After graduating with a degree in environmental sciences, he took on a variety of roles including environmental protection at the Environment Agency. His skill set included research, policy writing and implementation as well as construction.
Nottingham was an early entrant into the concept of green, environmentally friendly bus services. The city possesses Go Ultra Low City and Company status, is a designated Clean Air City and is committed to introducing a Clean Air Zone with Euro VI emission entry standards for buses by 2020. Nottingham currently has one of the largest electric bus fleets in Europe, and the biggest citywide infrastructure of charging facilities.
Aiming high
When Nottingham City Council decided to focus on electric buses in 2009, Steve became the project manager of the Electric Bus Project, which aimed to achieve three main objectives; to reduce operating costs, improve air quality and reduce noise pollution.
The resultant project specification required that the chosen system should:
- Be able to cope with a varying range of services – low and high frequencies, different passenger capacities and operating hours;
- Operate from several charging bases, thus allowing flexibility of contracting operators;
- Possess a widespread network of rapid chargers in order to increase flexibility and efficiency;
- Take advantage of cheap night time electricity produced from the Council’s waste incineration equipment;
- Act as a showcase demonstration city for electric buses;
- Involve limited on-street construction works, and have the flexibility to easily change routes and timetables;
- Be sufficiently easy for any contracting operator to use
Almost all of these aims have now been met.
Crucial project funding
Obtaining funding was a priority and involved both local taxes and external funding. The project has successfully capitalised on every round of the Government’s Green Bus Fund to create the largest electric bus fleet in Europe, along with the construction and installation of associated charging facilities at bases across the city.
“The biggest factor in funding was the DfT Green Bus Fund,” said Steve. “Without that we could not have introduced a project on this scale. We were doubly lucky in that in Nottingham we have a workplace parking levy. This is tax on local business’s workplace parking spaces, which is ring fenced for investment into sustainable transport projects. It has funded the electric bus scheme, the trams and various other bits and pieces. We won a bid for a Better Bus Area totaling around £11m, and with our SQPS Scheme in operation since 2010. We also wanted to be seen to be reducing emissions. Nottingham is also one of the UK’s most sustainable cities and generates energy from waste, while heating local homes. We have not yet incorporated that element into our bus charging.”
A six-phase strategy
Over one million people live within the Nottingham travel to work area. The public transport system includes three cross city tram services, as well as contracted bus services and a Locallink route network covering workplaces, health and education sites and district centres, generating seven million trips each year.
The decision to opt for electric buses was taken after detailed research. The business case for electric versus diesel was compelling. There was a £105k capital cost difference and a minimum prediction of fuel savings totaling £18k. It would result in CO2 and NOx reductions, fuel security and considerable cost savings. Key considerations in setting up the scheme included the need for fast charging, an independent operational base, locations for charging, battery range and reliability.
The resultant £15.1m project was divided into six phases starting with phase one and two, during which eight vehicles were acquired. By May 2014, 20 more buses were added and a further 17 joined the fleet in February 2015. Phase five saw the completion of the infrastructure, and another 13 vehicles being delivered. The scheme was fully operational in January 2017. The final phase was in 2017/18 with the installation of a citywide fast charger network.
The electric buses now operate within the Park & Ride services, as well as the Locallink and Medilink services connecting large areas of Nottingham city centre. Almost all routes terminate in the centre, using approximately 100 bus stops located on various streets. The Locallink and Medilink services use Optare vehicles, while the Park & Ride services use BYD buses capable of dealing with the long operating hours of up to 18 hours per day. A state of the art telemetry system provides detailed information about the vehicle, including – location, battery range remaining, use of regenerative braking – thus allowing Steve and the bus operator to obtain detailed feedback on driver and bus performance. Each bus is visibly branded as 100% electric, helping to increase public awareness of the project. All the buses are now run by Nottingham Community Transport, with most of the vehicles run and charged from the dedicated charging compounds within the Queens Road Eco Hub Park & Ride site.
Customer satisfaction
The electrification scheme has proved extremely popular with everyone, from bus users to bus drivers. “When we tried bioethanol buses, some users appreciated that there was 30% less carbon emissions but reactions were generally neutral,” Steve explained. “For the electric buses, the reactions are very different. Everybody notices how quiet the buses are and they see the difference. The public like them. They immediately see the difference with diesel vehicles.”
Steve continues: “They are loved by passengers and definitely loved by the drivers! When they were first introduced on the Medilink hospitals network, I went on one of the buses. As I disembarked at the hospital, the driver recognised me. He called me over and shook my hand saying how comfortable it was, and that he no longer had to sit on a vibrating seat all day. People like the fact
that there is no vibration on the buses, and no noise and no tail-pipe issuing smoke. Drivers also prefer the high torque of the vehicles, giving responsive acceleration without gear changes.”
Charging made easy
In order to keep the buses fully operational, a network of charging sites has been set up. The aim has been to provide both trickle-charging plus fast top up when needed. It is a process that has utilised all Steve’s disparate skills in environmental science, project management, tendering and construction. The necessary infrastructure involved creating charging points and the construction of three electricity sub stations to power the bases.
There are two charging bases, one of which is able to trickle charge 30 vehicles as well as having six rapid chargers. This houses the Optare fleet vehicles (Solo and Versa EVs). The BYD compound can charge 12 vehicles and it also has two rapid chargers for the Optares. The 50kW rapid chargers cannot charge vehicle batteries to 100%, as they are unable to balance the cells properly (hence the overnight trickle-charging), but within around two hours the system can charge up to 90% of the battery. In general, most of the buses within the Nottingham network do not need that level of top up charging. Drivers simply park the buses for a quick charge while they have their official breaks. The use of rapid chargers has allowed more flexibility than more expensive ‘permanent’ solutions. The redevelopment of the Broadmarsh bus station removed all the charge points but the rapid charger could be moved elsewhere. Likewise a rapid charger installed at a local bus operator base could be moved when that operating contract ended.
Creative solutions
Creating this infrastructure resulted in practical problems. Charging positions on vehicles were on opposite sides depending on the manufacturer, creating logistical issues when it came to parking at charging points. Special pillars were devised with cables allowing vehicles to be charged at either side.
“When the first buses turned up, the fast charge protocols didn’t work,” explained Steve. Nothing happened so we had to find a charger manufacturer that could work with a vehicle manufacturer and change some aspects of the charger. The key problem was that providing 50kW for two hours charging was the destruction test for most chargers and they were unwilling to provide warranties for them. They were originally designed to charge electric cars for 20 minutes! We re-engineered the charger to create a pulse profile which enabled us to preserve the warranty for the equipment.”
Another problem was finding sites for charging points and sub stations. Although Nottingham City Council owns possible sites, with commercialisation within the council, the Property Department required substantial rents. Ultimately, the decision was made to focus on creating charging points at the Park & Rides, as well as various street locations. The Queens Drive Eco Hub charging facility has become a high profile demonstration site for electric buses, attracting visitors from many other cities.
“It is important to have an independent base. The financial risk of an operator taking on the building of a system like this is not viable for a five year contract. This is another reason why we have been successful. Our system means that the operator just has to provide the drivers. We have our own buses and our own charging infrastructure. We can put that on our service tenders for operators. We have government grants and the workplace parking levy to pay for it,” Steve said.
Continual learning
Being at the forefront of electric bus transport systems has meant that there has been an element of learning by experience. There were problems relating to the reliability of vehicles due to the fast launch of electric buses on to the market. Most recently it has been discovered that battery range can be affected by temperature. Even driving a bus has required different skills and techniques as Steve indicates: “Driving an electric bus involves a completely different energy consumption to diesel buses. There is a different type of braking. An enormous amount of energy can be recovered. We tell our drivers no braking within reason. They coast into the bus stations.”
Less overnight recharging has had to take place than expected with the latest telemetry data showing that the Nottingham Community Transport fleet regenerates around 30% of the energy used each day. By training drivers to maximise the vehicle regeneration systems and reduce the use of conventional brakes, costs can be lowered.
Good value for money
The Electric Bus project in Nottingham has proved to be extremely affordable. “We know it has saved money. Drivers like it because the power is consistent and smooth. We have fuel security,” said Steve. “Servicing costs are 60% less compared to diesel buses. The longer range vehicles come back at the end of the day with at least 30% charge. Our systems allow us to see where and when charging takes place, and how they are being driven in any one spot. We can even see differences in driving styles between drivers.”
Payback on vehicles has been cost effective. The payback per vehicle was four years, and vehicle life is predicted to be between 12 to 15 years. One of the features of the Nottingham project, which has surprised many industry observers is the way in which all the various elements have been neatly linked together making it cost effective not just in terms of money, but in emissions and clean air as well. Steve commented: “It has developed that way. When we started the project, we were concentrating on greenhouse cases rather than air quality. It has also been about fuel security and affordability. We now have a reputation on the environment side of the industry, with low emissions for our public transport. We have a Bus Statutory Quality Partnership for the city centre incorporating rising emission standards, now Euro IV. By 2020 all buses entering Nottingham City centre will be Euro VI.”
The future looks good
And what of the future? Another sub station is currently being built and ways of reducing costs still further are being considered. “I am now investigating using power aggregators as a way of reducing electricity standing charge costs and I am watching Vehicle to Grid (V2G) developments, which could be beneficial,” said Steve. “We are saving hundreds of tonnes of carbon and Nitrogen Oxide emissions, along with associated reductions in life-threatening particulate pollution in Nottingham every year as a result of the electric bus project.”
[/wlm_ismember]
