First West Yorkshire has started electrification work at its Bramley depot in Leeds ahead of the deployment of 57 Wrightbus battery-electric buses there. The first are expected to arrive in January 2024, and when deployment is completed by March they will account for one-third of the Bramley fleet.
The buses are being funded by £16.4 million from First and £12.6 million from a successful Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) bid by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) that also involves Arriva and Transdev Blazefield.
The order initially called for 32 Wrightbus GB Kite Electroliner single-deckers, but it was expanded with 25 StreetDeck Electroliner double-deckers after the Department for Transport allocated additional money to a number of ZEBRA bids involving First Bus.
Contractors from Envevo have now arrived at Bramley to start preparations for the installation of the necessary charging equipment and other infrastructure. Heliox 150kW chargers will be installed in a continuation of an existing relationship between First Bus and the supplier.
First North and West Yorkshire Engineering Director Simon Carlisle (pictured, centre) has described the work on battery-electric buses at Bramley as “the beginning of a new future for the depot and our green transport revolution in Leeds.”
Mr Carlisle adds that it represents “real evidence” of a continuing successful partnership with WYCA to improve bus services and support an ambition for a net-zero transport system in Leeds. The city region hopes to achieve its net-zero target by 2038. Under those plans, “significant progress” by 2030 is called for.
Envevo UK Operations Director Michael Keenan says that a large amount of planning has already gone into the work at Bramley to support the battery-electric buses.
First’s Yorkshire operations are also seeing a concurrent significant further injection of the technology into York, where a wholesale conversion of the First York fleet to zero-emission is underway.
The Wrightbus products for Bramley will complement nine Yutong E10 single-deckers and five BYD ADL Enviro400EV double-deckers that operate from Hunslet Park depot.
