Nottingham City Transport (NCT) has celebrated five years of biogas bus operation, with the operator saying that it expects its fleet of Scania Alexander Dennis Enviro400CBG double-deckers to increase to 143 late this summer.
Currently 120 of the model are in use in Nottingham with an additional order for a further 23 in hand. Those are likely to be the last ones built, the operator notes. No additional fuelling infrastructure is necessary to support them as the existing provision was future-proofed for expansion in earlier funding bids.
In the five years since the first Enviro400CBGs entered service in Nottingham on 4 July 2017, they have covered over 15 million miles and have prevented the emission of over 26,000 tonnes of CO2 and 180 tonnes of NOx.
Biogas is produced from food and farm waste and sewage, and the introduction of the existing fleet of 120 such buses has enabled NCT to halve its diesel consumption to four million litres per year.
Says Head of Marketing Anthony Carver-Smith: “Happy fifth birthday to our biogas buses, which have played a significant role in improving air quality in Nottingham. Following £42m investment in low-emission vehicles since 2017, our fleet emissions have been reduced by 90%, demonstrating our commitment to reducing our environmental impact.”
The existing buses were delivered via a partnership involving the operator, Nottingham City Council, Scania, Alexander Dennis and Roadgas, with part funding received from what at the time was the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and is now the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.
Read a detailed examination of NCT’s work with biogas in its bus fleet here.
