Pelican Bus & Coach has announced the arrival of the first full electric coach to be offered to UK and Irish operators.
The 49-seater shares its driveline with Yutong’s E10 and E12 buses, and has a range of around 200 miles
Pelican Bus & Coach has announced the arrival of the first full electric coach to be offered to UK and Irish operators.
Named the TCe12, it joins the GT12, TC12 and TC9 in the Yutong coach range.
The TCe12 is an evolution of the ICe12 electric intercity coach already in service in Paris, where Flixbus and Keolis have operated over 50 for nearly two years.
The interior has been completely redesigned to a luxury coach specification – and is now built in right-hand drive – however the base vehicle and driveline is unchanged.
The single electric motor driveline and control system is the same as that used in the E10 and E12 buses, as well as about 100,000 other Yutong electric buses in service around the world.
The TCe12 will carry 49 passengers and a guide and comes with front and centre passenger doors.
It has 258kWh of battery capacity and can be charged with either a 60kWh or 120kWh DC charger, making a full charge possible in less than two hours.
Priced at £305,000 + VAT, the coach is primarily aimed at operators with prestige work within cities with established or impending clean air zones.
It is anticipated that electric charging costs should be less than 25% of the equivalent diesel cost. A TCe12 will be shown on the Pelican stand at Coach & Bus 2019 in Birmingham.
Richard Crump, Managing Director of Pelican Bus and Coach, said: “The coaches operating in Paris are averaging better than 1km per kWh of charge used on a duty cycle that is about 60% motorway and 40% urban operation.
“This would allow operators a range of about 200 miles on a full charge, depending of course on how the heating and cooling systems are used.”
The first three TCe12s have been ordered by Westway Coaches of London. David West, Westway’s Managing Director, added: “We are delighted to be the first operator to purchase the TCe12.
“As we move into the next decade more and more parts of London and other major cities will become accessible only to zero-emission vehicles.
“We already operate six Yutong coaches and are very confident in the excellent aftersales support from Pelican.”
