24 electric Yutong for the city of Nottingham

Nottingham City Transport (NCT), the English city’s public transport operator, is set to welcome twenty-four new Yutong signature electric buses to its fleet, costing £400,000 each per unit.

Source of pictures: Nottingham City Transport

Yutong electric buses for Nottingham City Transport

Yutong’s city buses, which have a range of up to 275 miles, will enter service on the Pink 30, Blue 39 and Red 50 routes.

Yutong dealer for the UK Pelican stresses that these are the first zero emission battery electric buses for Nottingham City Transport, who have worked with Pelican and Yutong to develop a high specification bus for customers.

Twelve of them are ready to enter service, while the second half will arrive by the end of March. The NCT said it plans to switch the entire fleet to electric by 2034. Within two years, the NCT plans to order double-decker electric buses to further expand the fleet.

The balance of the order will be delivered in 2 further tranches, with twelve due in April 2024 and the remaining twenty-four in March 2025.

Ian Downie, Head of Yutong UK commented “This is a significant step for Nottingham City Transport on their journey to zero emissions. The Nottingham team have challenged us to produce a customer centric vehicle, and we are extremely proud  of what has been achieved. The vehicle is fitted with full colour front destinations, luxury trimmed high backed seating, new swept hand poles, illuminated bell pushes, and our electric air conditioning system for maximum customer comfort.”

David Astill, NCT’s Managing Director said, “The delivery of these buses from Yutong represents the exciting start of our journey to a battery-electric fleet, with a target to replace all of our remaining diesel buses in the next four years. We are keen for our customers to enjoy the experience of travelling on our new emission-free vehicles, and we have been impressed by the flexibility and enthusiasm  offered by Pelican and Yutong to build a bus with coach-like comfort to a challenging specification set out by the NCT team. We are currently undertaking a comprehensive familiarisation programme for our drivers and engineers and both are full of praise for these new buses. I am confident our passengers will be equally impressed ”