Nottingham to welcome 78 new electric buses

Credit: Nottingham City Council

Nottingham City Council has announced that the city is set to welcome 78 new electric buses to its public transit fleet, after it had successfully secured funding from the UK government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas fund (ZEBRA) in early 2022. In addition to purchasing new buses, this money is being used to turn the Trent Bridge Bus Garage into a fully electric depot.

The greener buses will help to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality, as well as offer a more comfortable journey for passengers. Electric air-conditioning, free WIFI and USB charge points on board will result in a better passenger experience.

The council is working with Nottingham City Transport (NCT) to help it become one of the UK’s first carbon neutral bus operators, and Nottingham a carbon neutral city by 2028. In recent years NCT has made major upgrades to its fleet, including retrofitting older diesel buses and acquiring one of the largest biogas bus fleets in the country. 

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NCT has now appointed Zenobē to deliver the project at Trent Bridge Bus Garage. The depot, which used to be home to horse drawn trams, will soon be home to an all-electric bus fleet. The upgraded infrastructure at the historic depot will allow NCT to extend the electric fleet in the future, and work towards its ambition to be a net zero operator.

Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Transport and Parks, Councillor Audra Wynter, said: “These new state-of-the-art electric buses are fantastic news for Nottingham. Getting more people using greener public transport is a key part in tackling the twin emergencies of toxic air pollution and climate breakdown. These electric buses will help Nottingham to reach our carbon neutral 2028 goals while getting people around the city quickly and easily as part of our award-winning bus network.”