British Transport Minister Trudy Harrison MP, has signalled her support for a unique electric bus tour from London to Glasgow to celebrate low carbon energy and transport projects that are transforming our lives.
The 11-day tour kicked off at Go-Ahead’s Northumberland Park bus garage in north London last Monday, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, to showcase the people and places driving the transition to net zero.
The site is also home to the Bus2Grid project, led by SSE, BYD, UK Power Networks, TfL, and other partners, which could enable electric buses to become two-way chargers capable of putting power back into the Grid. Northumberland Park can charge 100 electric buses overnight and London currently has 950 electric buses on the road or on order.
The vehicle being used on the ‘Road to Renewables’ tour is a BYD ADL Enviro400EV [pure electric] double decker built in Britain by BYD and Alexander Dennis with a range of 160 miles – meaning it could get from London to Sheffield on a single charge. It is the UK’s best-selling electric double decker electric bus and one of 1,000 BYD ADL electric buses already on the road or on order.
Commenting at the start of the tour, Trudy Harrison, Parliamentary said: “The launch event is a wonderful example of the collaboration and innovation required to reach our net zero targets ahead of COP26, and Northumberland Park is already playing a huge role by bringing cleaner air to London with its 117 EV buses in operation.
“The Government has recently pledged a further £2.8bn to support the switch to cleaner vehicles and the Bus2Grid project based here is precisely the kind of research we need to power up the electric vehicle revolution, not just for cars but for public transport too.”
After the photo call involving the Mayor of Haringey, Councillor Adam Jogee, the COP26 branded bus will hit the road north reaching Glasgow three days before the climate change conference gets underway there.
The tour includes meeting the young green engineers who are based at the 500MW offshore windfarm at Greater Gabbard at the UK’s most easterly point; as well as the businesses and local authorities driving the decarbonisation of cities like Oxford and Peterborough.
The ‘Road to Renewables’ journey concludes in Glasgow on October 29th three days before COP26 gets underway where the bus will open an official charging garage for the climate change summit.
SSE is a major partner at COP26; and alongside the Go-Ahead Group, BYD/Alexander Dennis and SWARCO will use the EV bus tour to showcase examples of the national effort already underway to decarbonise.
David Brown, Go-Ahead Group Chief Executive, also commented: “Go-Ahead is the UK’s largest operator of electric buses, with nearly 300 modern zero emission vehicles in our fleet. It is fitting that the ‘Road to Renewables’ journey starts at Northumberland Park Garage, home to approximately 120 electric buses and the pioneering Bus2Grid technology.
“Not only does a double decker bus take up to 75 cars off the road, reducing congestion and improving air quality – by decarbonising our fleet we can make an even stronger contribution to tackling carbon emissions and enabling public health.”
Paul Davies, Alexander Dennis President and Managing Director, added: “As a global leader in the design and manufacture of double deck buses and the UK’s largest bus and coach manufacturer, Alexander Dennis is playing its part in the road to net zero by supporting thousands of skilled green jobs.
“Our British-built zero emission buses can not only reduce local air pollution and support the transition to net zero, but also help to underpin the opportunities for the bus manufacturing industry to prosper.”
Road to Renewables Launch Ceremony at the Northumberland Park in London
From left to right: David Brown, CEO of Go Ahead Group; Nathan Sanders, Managing Director of SSE; Paul Davies, President & Managing Director at ADL; Frank Thorpe, BYD UK Managing Director
