Here today, gone tomorrow
In 2021 or so, startup vehicle OEM Arrival appeared on the scene with grand plans for battery-electric buses and vans. Its products would be revolutionary and bear no resemblance to those built by existing manufacturers, Arrival said. That indeed proved to be the case, as can be seen by an example of its bus range here.
Further positivity came with news that First Bus was planning to place an order for no fewer than 193 Arrival products for fleets in England as part of its involvement in successful Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas bids. Quite a number of Arrival buses were built, but only one was registered for demonstration purposes as EV22 BUS. The others were used as test vehicles at the MIRA and Idiada centres.
History now shows that Arrival's efforts were a step too far. Later on in 2022 it first announced that the bus project was to be 'paused', before subsequently revealing that its focus was being shifted to vans in North America. First Bus instead placed its order with Wrightbus.
It thus seems that the bus is dead in the water. As a vehicle it was indeed revolutionary, although perhaps a bit too much so for what is generally still a conservative market in the UK. Some elements of it were indicative of a gross lack of on-the-ground knowledge, such as the door arrangement as visible; how is it to open if the driver has stopped without straightening the front wheels? Nonetheless, an interesting - if very brief - part of the UK bus industry's history.
Here today, gone tomorrow
In 2021 or so, startup vehicle OEM Arrival appeared on the scene with grand plans for battery-electric buses and vans. Its products would be revolutionary and bear no resemblance to those built by existing manufacturers, Arrival said. That indeed proved to be the case, as can be seen by an example of its bus range here.
Further positivity came with news that First Bus was planning to place an order for no fewer than 193 Arrival products for fleets in England as part of its involvement in successful Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas bids. Quite a number of Arrival buses were built, but only one was registered for demonstration purposes as EV22 BUS. The others were used as test vehicles at the MIRA and Idiada centres.
History now shows that Arrival's efforts were a step too far. Later on in 2022 it first announced that the bus project was to be 'paused', before subsequently revealing that its focus was being shifted to vans in North America. First Bus instead placed its order with Wrightbus.
It thus seems that the bus is dead in the water. As a vehicle it was indeed revolutionary, although perhaps a bit too much so for what is generally still a conservative market in the UK. Some elements of it were indicative of a gross lack of on-the-ground knowledge, such as the door arrangement as visible; how is it to open if the driver has stopped without straightening the front wheels? Nonetheless, an interesting - if very brief - part of the UK bus industry's history.