NI manufacturer Wrightbus has secured one of the UK’s largest electric vehicle (EV) bus orders.
Totalling 193 buses, the £81m order from Scotland-based from multi-national transport group, FirstGroup, is the largest EV bus purchase outside of London.
It will see new zero emission buses being rolled out across England from March 2023.
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The order follows successful bids with local authorities as part of the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) funding scheme.
First Bus will invest £43m in the new vehicles and will be supported to complete the electric fleet project with a £38m grant from the DfT.
The new EV buses will be fully built in Co Antrim at the Wrightbus facility in Ballymena in a significant boost for the UK economy and the manufacturing sector.
This latest partnership between First Bus and Wrightbus comes following the successful rollout of the world’s first double-decker Hydrogen buses in Aberdeen in 2020.
As one of the UK’s largest bus operators, First Bus will also work with the Ballymena-based bus builder to help upskill current and new engineers alike to help take their people on this decarbonisation journey with them.
This will allow First Bus and Wrightbus to create new green jobs, as well as enhancing skillsets for existing staff.
The order will be split between five areas Leicester (68 buses); York (44); Leeds (32), Norwich (15) and Portsmouth (34). Each regional project will be completed over the course of the next two years.
Ben Werth, Chief Commercial Officer at Wrightbus, said: "This is another significant deal for Wrightbus - the largest zero emissions bus order outside of London - and we are delighted to once again be partnering with First Bus in the drive to zero-emission public transport.
“First Bus, like us, is consistently on the forefront of new and exciting technology and at the forefront of zero- and low-emission travel.
“All of the buses - the GB Kite Electroliner BEV and the StreetDeck Electroliner BEV, which is the world's most efficient double decker battery-electric bus - will be manufactured and assembled at our Ballymena factory, which means support for jobs in NI, and wider across the UK through our domestic supply chain.
“2022 has been a remarkable year for Wrightbus so far, as this deal comes after our recent, historic deals with the National Transport Authority (NTA), Australia and Germany.
“This latest deal with First Bus strengthens the reputation we have forged in the zero-emission transport sector and will help play an important part in the UK’s ambitions for decarbonisation.”
First Bus UK, Managing Director, Janette Bell, said: “Wrightbus have a really exciting product that we feel will enhance the customer experience at the same time as benefitting the environment.”
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