Zero emissions buses

Electric buses

Built in Falkirk by Alexander Dennis, our electric buses have no engine and are battery powered. 

We are really excited about Coventry becoming the UK’s first all-electric bus city. We launched 10 fully electric National Express Coventry buses into service during 2019 and we have introduced another 130 more in 2022. We will have hundreds more being brought to the city over the next few years so that our entire Coventry fleet becomes electric by 2025. 

Electric vs diesel

So you are probably thinking, why are electric buses a whole lot better than normal, diesel fuelled buses. Let us explain:

• Our electric vehicles produce zero carbon emissions at the tailpipe and are powered by renewable ‘green’ energy - even the heaters run off the battery!
• Electric buses charge up in four hours, and can run for 220 kilometres in the winter, and 280 kilometres in the summer before needing another charge.
• Along with our hydrogen buses, electric is the next step to upgrading our buses to become fully zero emission from 2030.

Did you know...

• Our drivers have to be specially trained to drive the electric buses because they behave differently to combustion engine-driven buses. The drivers have to learn to preserve the charge for as long as possible and extend the range of the vehicle.
• A shed-sized battery, a charging station for each bus and a new system for engineers to monitor the buses’ performance have been implemented at the garages.
• If you want to know if a bus is electric, look out for the number on the back of the vehicle. We literally reset the clock so the electric buses start from ‘001’ and carry the prefix ‘E’
• An electric bus can seat 25 passengers downstairs and 38 upstairs - so 63 in total. A Platinum but seats 30 downstairs and 43 upstairs - 73 in total. The difference is partly due to bus design layout (they are different models made by different bus manufacturers) but also partly because in an electric bus you need more room for battery cells to power it.
• An electric bus weighs almost 2 tonnes heavier than a standard diesel bus.
• In the first 12 months our 29 electric buses clocked over 850.000 miles and saved 1400 tonnes of carbon dioxide going out into the atmosphere. 

Hydrogen buses

Made by Wrightbus in Northern Ireland, each double-decker includes six Kevlar-coated aluminium tanks which store the hydrogen to fuel the driving of the bus (rather than a tank full of diesel!)

Birmingham City Council has unveiled the first of its 20 new hydrogen buses, with more buses being launched in the West Midlands during November 2021. Head over to our West Midlands zero emissions buses page to discover more.