First Bus has placed what it claims is one of the UK’s largest electric bus (e-bus) orders with UK manufacturer Wrightbus, following successful bids with local authorities as part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) funding scheme.
The £81m order, which totals 193 buses, is reportedly the largest ever e-bus purchase outside of London and will see new zero emission buses being deployed across England from March 2023.
First Bus plans to invest £43m in the new vehicles and will be supported in electrifying its fleet by a £38m grant from DfT.
First Bus says it has worked closely with five local authority partners to secure the funding, which helps with the costs of both route infrastructure and the price difference between diesel buses and their electric vehicle (EV) equivalents.
The order will be split as follows:
- Leicester (68 buses) in partnership with Leicester City Council
- York (44 Buses) in partnership with City of York Council
- Leeds (32 Buses) in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority
- Norwich (15 Buses) in partnership with Norfolk County Council
- Portsmouth (34 Buses) in partnership with Portsmouth City Council & Hampshire County Council.
Each regional project will be completed over the course of the next two years, with First Bus planning to have more than 500 EVs in operation across its fleet. The company intends to have an entirely zero emission fleet by 2035.
The new EV buses will be fully built in Northern Ireland at the Wrightbus facility.
This announcement follows several previous partnerships, including the pair’s successful rollout of the world’s first double-decker Hydrogen buses in Aberdeen in 2020.
First Bus will also work with a bus builder located close to the Wrightbus facility to help upskill engineers as part of a move to both create new green jobs and offer new training opportunities to existing staff.
Janette Bell, managing director of First Bus UK, said: “We are absolutely delighted to place our largest ever Zero Emission Vehicle order and to do so with a UK manufacturer.
“Wrightbus have a really exciting product that we feel will enhance the customer experience at the same time as benefitting the environment.
“As leaders in sustainable mobility, we are fully aligned with the government’s ambitions for a net-zero carbon transport system, including zero-emission bus fleets.
“We will continue to work closely with central and local government across the UK to support the delivery of our shared decarbonisation ambitions and commitments.”
