The electric buses have been purchased for service in Glasgow and Aberdeen, with an order of 50 buses, worth £19.7 million, for Glasgow and 24 buses, worth £8.4 million, for Aberdeen.
The new vehicles, which will be built by Alexander Dennis Ltd and Yutong, will start to arrive in the cities next year. Ahead of their arrival, a further £2.1 million will be invested in Aberdeen’s King Street depot, and £4.8 million in Glasgow’s Scotstoun depot, to install rapid charging points to support the new fleets.
The work to transform the sites into state-of-the-art EV charging hubs is expected to take 12 months.
The arrival of these buses will mark an important milestone for the First Bus fleets in each city. Once in operation, Glasgow – which is home to the UK’s largest EV charging hub thanks to the transformation of its Caledonia depot – will have a fleet that is 40% electric. Meanwhile, Aberdeen will become 50% emission free, following the introduction of its hydrogen-powered fleet last year.
The 74 electric buses being introduced to the Scotstoun and Aberdeen depots will significantly reduce overall tailpipe emissions.
First Bus’s significant investment has been supported by £18.6m from Transport Scotland through its Scottish Zero Emission Bus (ScotZEB) funding – a challenge fund to support the industry’s swift transition to zero emission vehicles and infrastructure.
Duncan Cameron, managing director at First Bus Scotland, said: “We’re proud of the progress that we’ve made across Scotland; these new buses will make a significant impact to our mission to be emission free by 2035. What we hope will make an even more sizeable impact on emissions and air quality, is people’s decision to choose bus as their preferred mode of transport. These state-of-the-art new EVs will provide a more pleasant journey for passengers, and we hope that they’ll encourage more people living in these cities to leave their cars behind in favour of bus travel.”