Coventry has welcomed 50 new electric buses onto its streets with the support of electric vehicle (EV) fleet and battery storage specialist, Zenobē Energy and National Express.
The new National Express Coventry double-decker buses have been described as a “major step forward” for the city’s £150 million project to build the first all-electric bus city in the UK by 2025.
They are the first of 300 new electric buses planned to run in Coventry over the next three years, as part of the city’s ‘Coventry’s Electric’ programme.
Zenobē signed an electric transportation as a service (ETaaS) deal with National Express in February this year in what was said to be the “UK’s largest single EV bus fleet transaction to provide 130 BYD Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) buses to National Express Coventry.”
As a result of the partnership, National Express Coventry has had access to Zenobē’s end-to-end EV solution, which includes on-board replacement batteries, a software platform to help monitor and optimise energy, as well as charging and grid infrastructure at the depot.
National Express also invested £60 million into the decarbonisation of its Coventry fleet, meaning that over a third is now electric. A figure that the company has committed to grow to 80 in 2023.
CEO of National Express UK, Tom Stables said: “We’re proud and excited to be leading the way in making Coventry all-electric and are actively recruiting new drivers to join us in the green revolution. Full training is provided and we have recently launched new pay rates of up to £29,500, or more with overtime.
The city already had ten all-electric buses operated by National Express so this brings the total number of buses in the city to 60.”
Zenobē’s debt structure is unique for buses and has offered a “good advantage” for the company as electric buses continue to act as a catalyst for its growth, it said.
