National Express confirms order of 170 electric buses before end-2024
Fri 14 April 2023
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National Express West Midlands has ordered a further 170 electric buses from the Alexander Dennis and BYD UK partnership it its largest electric bus order so far.
The Enviro400EV battery-electric double-deckers are part of National Express West Midlands £150 million investment in 300 UK-made zero emission buses which was announced earlier this year.
The buses will be built in Falkirk by Alexander Dennis (AD) on a BYD chassis and deployed across the West Midlands.
The new order takes the total number of BYD AD Enviro400EV buses to be operated by National Express in the West Midlands to 329, making it the largest of the type in the UK. It follows an earlier order for 130 buses to join the fleet in Coventry as part of a £140m project to make Coventry the UK’s first all-electric bus city by 2025.
Tom Stables, CEO National Express UK & Germany, said: “These clean, green UK-built double decker buses are popular with our customers. As a result, they are not only more economical to run but they will boost passenger growth by getting more people to ditch their cars for the bus; and of course they do their bit to help tackle the climate and clean air emergency."
Martin West, Group Commercial Director Alexander Dennis, said: “This repeat order from National Express will create the largest fleet of BYD AD Enviro400EV electric double deck buses in the country and shows the gathering pace of the transition to zero-emission mobility.”
National Express West Midlands says that additional investment will be made in infrastructure for charging and maintenance of the fleet across the groups’ network of depots. The electricity to power the electric vehicles will be 100% renewable and zero carbon.
Tim Griffen, Project Officer at Zemo Partnership, said: ‘’This order, the latest in a series of significant vehicle orders, highlights the immense progress operators across the UK are continuing to make in decarbonising bus fleets. Zemo analysis has found that 50% of all new buses in 2022 were zero-emission, the second consecutive year this milestone has been achieved, despite the ongoing difficulties facing the sector.
"National Express West Midlands recent announcement of a £150m investment in 300 electric buses shows that, for one operator at least, a viable business model has been achieved; a significant step in the transition to a fully zero emission bus fleet.’’
Image courtesy National Express.
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