Londoners Saved From 900 Tonnes of CO2 by BYD ADL Electric Bus Fleet

After a year in service — and a million kilometres —  London’s  first and Europe’s largest fleet of zero emission pure electric buses, operated  by Go-Ahead London for TfL —  have saved  Londoners  nearly 900 tonnes of harmful CO2 pollution. The buses are built in Britain by the BYD ADL electric bus partnership.

The 51-strong fleet of single decker buses, which operate out of Go-Ahead’s Waterloo depot on routes 507 and 521, have made a major contribution to tackling the air quality crisis on the streets of the capital and have already led to further quantities of buses from the BYD ADL partnership being ordered for other London routes.

In total there are 157 BYD ADL single deck buses in service or on order for London operators  with a further fleet due to enter service soon in Liverpool. The BYD ADL partnership is now working on a range of new products.

In addition, BYD single deckers are in service in Nottingham and five  BYD double deckers are fully in service on TfL’s Route 98 operated by Metroline.

So far, the BYD ADL partnership has produced the Enviro200EV — a stylish, proven  and reliable product, well able to handle a full day’s duty cycle without need for disruptive ‘opportunity charging’ during the working day and allowing low cost off peak electricity to be used for recharging at night. The Enviro200EV  is available  at both 10.8m and 12m in length.

“Its great to be at the forefront of cleaner transport across Europe with the successful introduction and running of the UK’s first electric bus garage," said Richard Harrington, Go-Ahead London’s  engineering  director. “Changing  the layout of the depot, the way the buses are scheduled to enter and leave  and the installation of the power supply, required  a new way of running  a depot from one operating  traditional diesel buses."

“Maximizing the amount of electricity used overnight (when demand is lower), and charging the buses with the exact amount for their routes (reducing further wastage) is a significant challenge that we have  mastered without compromising our services for customers. And our expertise is now regularly  sought by visitors from over 40 companies and nations," said Harrington.

“While we are now making real progress  in the electrification programme  of other TfL routes and operators,  it was the Waterloo experience which really proved to the industry and authorities that pure electric buses were a realistic proposition.  We’ve demonstrated  beyond question that the joint BYD ADL product  is reliable and efficient," said Isbrand Ho, managing director, BYD Europe.

“Bus operators in London, as well as cities around the UK, are recognising that a fleet of Envi ro200EV vehicles can bring significant benefits to their operations, customers and the wider envi ronment. Reaching one million kilometres of emission-free bus service with Go-Ahead London is a significant landmark in the journey to improving street level air quality," said Robert Davey, ADL’s group commercial and business development director.