Warrington pushes to become 100% e-bus town by 2024
Warrington Council operates the services as Warrington’s Own Buses and has received government funding towards new vehicles when, in 2021, it secured £21.5 mn through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme (ZEBRA).
In today’s news, the Council said it had signed an agreement for Volvo Buses for 105 electric vehicles and added that the order was thought to be one of the biggest in the UK.
Ben Wakerley, managing director of Warrington’s Own Buses, told the BBC that he felt the move was “bigger than Warrington”.
“There is a climate emergency happening and we want to contribute towards that and do our bit,” he said.
He added that he was also “excited” about the buses using the council’s own solar farm to recharge.
As for the buses, Volvo launched the BZL Electric in 2021 with a powertrain entirely developed in-house and multiple chassis options. The company today added it had worked in close partnership with MCV Bus and Coach to develop the bodywork for the range, tailoring it specifically for UK fleets; the buses come as single and double-decker. In general, the BZL body can accommodate three to five battery packs with NCA cells of 94 kWh each, resulting in the three battery options 282 kWh, 376 kWh and 470 kWh.
