Municipal bus company Newport Transport, also known as Newport Bus, and Zenobē, an electric vehicle (EV) fleet and battery storage specialist, have announced the extension of their working relationship to improve the region’s transport sustainability.
Specifically, the pair will collaborate on the installation of new EV charging infrastructure, with 16 new chargepoints – made of eight double-headed chargers – being delivered to support Newport Bus’ 32-vehicle e-bus fleet.
The council also recently announced plans to make Newport the first city in the UK with a fully electric bus fleet by the end of 2023. This includes plans to add 12 new electric buses from Chinese manufacturer Yutong to its fleet by 2023, plus the purchase of four of this company’s electric coaches.
Zenobē and Newport Transport hope the installation of new charging infrastructure will support the bus fleet to expand in the future. The pair initially began working together in 2020 to jointly deploy Wales’ first ever fleet of all-electric buses.
The council reports that its electric buses now comprise 43% of its total fleet, and that the provision of the EV chargers has helped fill a vital gap in its infrastructure.
What’s more, the council claims to have the highest ratio of electric to diesel buses out of every local authority in the UK outside of London.
Steven Meersman, co-founder and director of Zenobē, said: “Scott and the team at Newport Transport were the first to work with us on our battery-on-the-bus-as-a-service and charging service model, when we jointly expanded the impact of their successful grant from the UK government from two to seven vehicles with our then new funded service model.
“I am delighted to see that intent of partnership expand to a fleet that is over 40 per cent electric, with plans to extend this further – a milestone and an example.”
Alongside the new chargers, the two organisations will also be collaborating on upgrading grid connections for improved energy demand and offering financing for the extension of current infrastructure.
