The collaboration will see the electrification of a bus depot at Greenock, due to go live in the first quarter of 2023, and the expansion of the electric depots at Inchinnan and Johnstone. This brings the total number of electric buses in McGill’s fleet to 109.
Zenobē, a battery storage specialist, will build the new infrastructure across the sites, as well as implement its software solution to manage the fleet charging and power requirements. The vehicles will be powered up during off-peak times.
This announcement follows funds that McGill received from the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) for new e-buses and infrastructure. ScotZEB was launched to support the transition of the buses to zero-emission technologies.
Zenobē and McGill initially worked together to electrify depots at Johnstone, Inchinnan and Dundee to facilitate the launch of 68 electric buses. This was partly funded by the Scottish Government’s Scottish Ultra Low Emissions Bus Scheme, the scheme that preceded ScotZEB. The next phase is already being worked on to design solutions for the introduction of zero emission buses to Stirling, Falkirk, West Lothian and Edinburgh.