Equipmake will now electrify ICE and hybrid buses for use on school and city routes operated by Newport Transport, which already runs 49 electric buses in the city and surrounding areas of Newport, South Wales.
The eight buses to be repowered comprise five diesel ADL E400s and three hybrid Volvo B5LHs with Wrightbus Gemini bodies, and each will be converted to incorporate Equipmake's scalable Zero-Emission Drivetrain (ZED) technology, fitted with two 109 kWh standard battery packs in two battery capacity sizes, including 218 kWh for a 90 mile (145 kilometers) daily range and 382 kWh for a 150 mile (241 kilometer) daily range.
According to Equipmake, repowering an existing bus chassis and body can save 90 tons of embodied CO2 compared to the production of brand new electric double-decker buses. Each conversion costs less than half the price of a new electric bus, and with most buses in service for 14 years or more, operators can make significant savings by repowering a bus halfway through its service life.
Scott Pearson, Managing Director, Newport Transport said: “This partnership with Equipmake is an obvious next step for us as we continuously reduce the emissions of our operations. Its state-of-art technology is cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. We are hugely excited to begin the conversion of these eight buses and see them on the roads of the local area. Our school routes are a vital element of our service, transporting hundreds of students each day. These buses will continue to serve an important community purpose, but with the added benefit of doing so emission-free.”
Source: Equipmake