Arriva London welcomes 50 new Wrightbus e-buses

Arriva London‘s commitment to building a sustainable, zero-emission bus network throughout the English capital continues. In fact, the operator has welcomed 50 new zero-emission electric vehicles into its fleet that will enter service this year, further ensuring its commitment to providing a sustainable and environmentally friendly bus network. The vehicles, manufactured by Wrightbus, feature improved specifications to enhance the customer experience, with aesthetically pleasing on-board lighting, wooden floors, high-resolution destination curtains, digital screens for customer information, and Usb charging points. Their arrival at Arriva Enfield, Arriva Brixton Tramshed, and Arriva Thornton Heath garages represents the next phase of Arriva London’s sustainability plan, with the new buses entering service between May and September.

In 2022, Arriva London transformed the Brixton shed service into a fully electrified service, and zero-emission buses have been proudly serving Brixton in recent months. To ensure that the new Wrightbus zero-emission vehicles can bring the same environmentally friendly and efficient operation to Enfield and Thornton Heath as the buses already in use in Brixton, an innovative program of work-managed by Zenobe-to complete the electrification infrastructure at both depots will begin shortly.

Arriva and Wrightbus: a new electricity network for London

Arriva London Commercial Director, Graham Davies said: “Welcoming the new Wrightbus electric fleet into our Enfield and Thornton Heath garages, whilst further strengthening our Brixton based fleet, is an exciting milestone in our continued journey to operating a greener, decarbonised bus network across London. We are delighted to once again be working in partnership with Wrightbus and Zenobe on this project to support TfL’s long-term vision”.

In addition to improving the customer experience on board, supporting sustainability, and ensuring cleaner air in North and South London, the new electric fleet also represents a unique opportunity for training Arriva London’s workforce, as our drivers and engineers will be a vital part of the successful introduction and ongoing management of the 50 buses.

Wrightbus speaking

Ian Gillott, Managing Director (Parts and Services) at Wrightbus, said: “It has been a real team effort between Wrightbus and Arriva to deliver these exciting and significant projects. It is fantastic to see Arriva taking this vital and progressive step to decarbonise public transport to help the UK hit its ambitious net zero targets. It also illustrates our ambition to be at the forefront of the zero-emission drive in cities, towns and rural areas across the world.  Wrightbus is at the forefront of this technology. Indeed, the StreetDeck Electroliner BEV is the world’s most efficient double deck battery-electric bus. Tests conducted by vehicle testing group UTAC showed the Streetdeck consumed around half the energy as its closest BEV double deck UK rival. Not only is it more energy-efficient, but according to Ultra Low Emissions Bus Scheme (ULEB) calculations, the StreetDeck Electroliner also produces 86% less CO2 per km than the ZEMO Euro6 Diesel baseline. All of the buses will be manufactured and assembled at our Ballymena factory, which means support for jobs in Northern Ireland, and wider across the UK through our domestic supply chain”.

Zero emission e-bus for London

For Transport for London, this is another positive step toward implementing the Mayor of London’s plans to significantly reduce/eliminate emissions on bus routes. The fleet currently has about 900 zero-emission buses across the network.

Louise Cheeseman, TfL’s Director of Buses, said: “The addition of 50 new zero emission electric vehicles is a welcome inclusion to London’s rapidly growing greener bus fleet. These new buses will not only play a key role in helping to clean up the capital’s toxic air and tackle climate change, but will also have new features to improve customer experience including digital information screens and USB charging points. The buses were built in the UK, helping British manufacturing and the economy thrive, once again placing the iconic London bus at the vanguard of a growing industry”.

Zenobē, electrification specialist

For Zenobē, the international EV fleet electrification specialist and an innovative partner in ensuring that our workshops are ready for electric fleets, participation in this new vehicle roll out is a further expansion of a strategic partnership to build a net zero emission fleet.

Steven Meersman, Co-Founder and Director at Zenobē, said: “The addition of 50 Wrightbus zero emission vehicles is another strong testament of Arriva London’s commitment to the decarbonisation of transport in the capital. 14 of these vehicles will be out on the roads as part of our ongoing partnership with Arriva Brixton Tramshed. Through our agreement we guarantee to deliver the charging required to the fleet of Wrightbus vehicles and support the performance of the batteries on them, and we’re pleased to extend this service to the new vehicles. At Arriva Enfield and Arriva Thornton Heath we will design and build charging infrastructure at both depots, including the integration of our smart charging software to ensure Arriva London’s rapidly growing fleet is optimised to be both economically and environmentally sustainable. We are also pleased to incorporate Wrightbus vehicles into our technology agnostic charging optimisation software for the first time, demonstrating its agile interoperability with multiple vehicle and hardware types”.