First Group has completed work at the Caledonia depot to make it the UK’s largest electric vehicle rapid-charging centre.
Located in Glasgow’s Southside, the site has had 160 rapid-charging points installed over the last nine months.
A trial is underway offering the charging infrastructure to third-party businesses during the day when its buses are out on service.
It now plans to expand the depot further, in partnership with Ofgem and Scottish Power Energy Networks, with the construction of a new substation.
This should supply enough power to host an additional 200 vehicles and charging points and will see Caledonia depot home to a total capacity of 350 charging points, once built.
First Glasgow’s bus fleet out of the Caledonia depot should be converted to half 50% electric by the end of this year, when it takes delivery of a further 52 electric buses. Glasgow currently has 98 electric buses operating in the city.
The depot’s new rapid-charging stations can fully charge a bus in just four hours if required, and is controlled via smart-charging software.
First Bus plans to replicate this model across many more sites as part of its decarbonisation journey, with funding recently awarded via the government ScotZEB and ZEBRA schemes.
More electric vehicles will soon be coming to Glasgow and further afield, too, with First Bus successful in the Scottish Government’s ScotZEB funding round - meaning 50 new electric buses are now planned for First Glasgow’s Scotstoun depot, while First Aberdeen’s zero-emission fleet will be bolstered with an additional 24 electric vehicles.
Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth said: “I am delighted to visit the depot to see the scale of what the largest charging centre in the UK is now, which has been made possible by £26.3m of Scottish Government investment.
“This really is a gamer changer in our progress towards decarbonising Scotland’s buses.”
Duncan Cameron, managing director at First Bus Scotland, added: “This is a landmark moment on our journey to an entirely zero emissions fleet and a vital step in decarbonising the local environment and improving air quality.”
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