Background and Challenge
Zemo Partnership, with our members, is embarking on an ambitious project to accelerate the coach market to ultra low and zero emission vehicles.
The coach industry provides a range of key services; from low cost intercity travel to tourist day trips, to home-to-school services. A key advantage of diesel coaches is their flexibility across a range of duty cycles, with operators able to use the same vehicles on different services day-to-day, over large distances.
The transition to fully zero emission vehicles is a significant challenge due to the upfront costs (and no direct capital support), vehicle range and infrastructure limitations. There are, however, a suite of alternatives available to operators, including high blend biofuels.
Objectives
Zemo Partnership will work with members and key associates:
- To evidence the case for an ultra low and zero emission coach capital grant scheme.
- To develop a definition of an ultra low and zero emission coach to support this work.
- To promote best practice in the transition to lower carbon and zero emission coaches via webinars and workshops.
Actions and Outputs
- An ultra low and zero emission coach definition.
- A proposal for an ultra low/zero emission coach scheme.
- Distribution of the ultra low/zero emission coach definition and findings via a Coach Working Group meeting.
- A Euro VI diesel coach test programme to define baseline emissions performance (subject to funding from industry/government).
Timeline
October 2021 – March 2022