17 New EV double-decks for Cheltenham

[AdamH]

As previously mentioned, Stagecoach West are planning to upgrade a number of routes around Cheltenham, Gloucester, and Tewkesbury in late 2025 and early 2026 to full Electric operation. For this, 17 double-deck and 25 single-deck buses have been ordered with help from Gloucestershire County Council under the Zebra 2 scheme.

The first batch of 17 double-deck buses have now started to arrive, and these are Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV with H46/25F seating configuration. All will be based at Cheltenham depot for use primarily on Service 94/94X between Cheltenham and Gloucester. This route was one for the first to be converted to Gold standard back in 2009, and now runs 24-hours a day, with 8 departures per hour in each direction during the daytime.

Fleet numbers will be 80229-80245, and the first 4 examples arrived at Oxford depot on Wednesday, and another 2 at Bristol depot on Thursday. These will go into storage until work to install chargers at Cheltenham depot is finished. The 25 single-deck buses are expected later in the year and will be used on routes in Tewkesbury and Gloucester.

I was at a meeting in Didcot on Thursday, so I called by Oxford depot on my way home to get some photos. The bus shown is 80233...

[MattW]

Not a bad looking vehicle - the step between the top of the windscreen and the upper deck puts me in mind of the special Nottingham City Transport bodies on Leyland Atlanteans back in the day.

[AdamH]

I guess it's time for an update on these 17 new buses...

Work on the charging infrastructure at Cheltenham depot is well under way, and the first examples should be out and about soon.

Driver training starts on Monday 6th October, with the first examples going into service on Monday 13th October. Although the full batch of 17 buses have been delivered, they will not all enter service on the same day, but rather they will be drip fed over the following few weeks, one or two at a time. Switching from diesel to electric requires a new way of working, with buses being scheduled to return to the depot to recharge rather than stopping out all day. Remember the 94 group of routes run 24 hours a day, Monday to Saturday, so that is a very important consideration when scheduling. Also, the depot at Cheltenham is at full capacity, so there will be a big game of Tertis to make sure the charging points can always be accessed. That should be fun!

Meanwhile, the order for 25 single-deck EV buses to be used at both Cheltenham and Gloucester depots is running a little behind schedule. The first one is due to arrive in early November for driver training, with the rest arriving in December. These should be on the road in the new year, and will fully convert the Tewkesbury network to EV operation (plus a few routes in Gloucester too).

[AdamH]

The 25 Yutong single-deck buses mentioned in the above post have now started to arrive. These wont be in service for another month or so as the charging infrastructure at Gloucester is still about 2-weeks away, and about 6-weeks away at Cheltenham, but I did manage to borrow one earlier in the week for a trip to Tewkesbury to get photos.

I must have taken hundreds of bus photos at Tewkesbury Crescent while I was at First, so it's only fitting that I choose one of those pictures to share here...

[MattW]

Thats a good looking motor Adam, and a decent livery too - won't show the dirt so much!

On the BBC today too!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cev8eelpd21o

[AdamH]

...
On the BBC today too!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cev8eelpd21o

Gloucestershire County Council have published a video somewhere. Probably on Facebook or similar. Luckily I'm not in it, but it does show off my handywork with programming the internal information screens, and more importantly it shows off our MD's new haircut, which was installed especially for the event!

[TimBrown]

Thats a good looking motor Adam, and a decent livery too - won't show the dirt so much!

On the BBC today too!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cev8eelpd21o

Attached is a link to Wikipedia with some information about Yutong Single deck battery operated buses. I was curious as to where the batteries are situated and found another site showing two rows of batteries in the roof positioned just behind and above the front axle and three rows of batteries in the roof situated just behind and above the back axle plus a single row of batteries in the rear below the penultimate row of back seats. Apparently the electric motor is adjacent to the ZF back axle. Somewhat different to diesel powered alternatives!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yutong_E10

[943KHA]

Tilt test results must be interesting (or very 'stiff' air springs).

[AdamH]

Tilt test results must be interesting (or very 'stiff' air springs).

Are tilt tests still a thing?

[943KHA]

They certainly are, even for imports.