McGill’s Buses Alexander Dennis Enviro 200MMC
McGill’s investment
McGill’s has placed an order with Pelican Bus and Coach for 22 Yutong E12 battery-electric buses. The operator says the order marks the beginning of a phase-out of diesel purchases in an effort to respond to the air quality and climate crisis.
The 12m zero-emission buses will be delivered in the third quarter of 2021. Each vehicle has been specified with the 422kW/h battery pack, which Pelican claims is capable of daily operational range of over 300km on a single charge. The delivery is aided by the Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme.
When this order was announced, there was some mutterings on social media about the wisdom of purchasing these Chinese built buses over buses made locally in Scotland or indeed the United Kingdom itself, especially as Alexander Dennis announced recently that it’ll be commencing chassis production of both BYD electric single and double-deckers at its factories, rather than import the chassis from BYD’s overseas plants. On top of that, there’s Switch Mobility’s (what used to be Optare) offerings and the new owners of what was Wrightbus (Bamford Bus Company) promising a new ‘best in class’ electric double-decker. Hopefully, it’ll do better than the Streetair, which completely flopped.
However as a commercial business, McGill’s is perfectly entitled to purchase what buses it feels best suits its needs and these buses can only help reduce emissions. They’ll be the first such standard service buses of the type in the country. There is already one running at Whitelees Wind Farm, taking visitors around the site.
Whilst Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) may have disappointed to have missed out on that initial order, it was no doubt cheered by the news a further order by McGill’s group will see its recently acquired Xplore Dundee fleet receive 12 BYD ADL Enviro400EV double-deckers, while a single BYD ADL Enviro200EV will join the 22 previously-announced Yutong E12s in the McGill’s Buses fleet at Johnstone depot.
The single-deckers are to be used on a route between Glasgow and Johnstone and will apparently wear a new livery scheme. Xplore Dundee will deploy its Enviro400EVs to service 28 between Myrekirk and Douglas via the city centre. They will be known as Electric Emeralds. The double-deckers will be the first such buses in the fleet and possibly in Scotland. There was rumours that Lothian Buses had ordered some of the type too but I’ve not seen it confirmed officially.
All the battery-electric buses and infrastructure are to be delivered in the second half of 2021, ahead of the planned - at the moment as it should have happened last year - COP26 summit in Glasgow on 1-12 November. First Glasgow is also expecting its Enviro 200EVs by then also.
In addition to the confirmed battery-electric bus orders, McGill’s says that it is in “advanced talks with a variety of partners” to bring 12 hydrogen fuel cell-electric examples into the Xplore Dundee fleet. They are due to arrive “in the next 12 months.” Dundee is part of the European Union JIVE 2 hydrogen bus project. When the addition of Dundee to JIVE2 was announced, an ADL Enviro 400FCEV was shown but as of yet, the only hydrogen powered double-deckers to enter service have been the Bamford Bus Company’s Streetdeck FCEVs.
This significant investment shows McGill’s commitment to de-carbonising its fleet. On top of these new buses, McGill’s runs a very modern diesel fleet, seen here by I4200 (YX19OTA) branded for services to Erskine.
McGill’s Buses Alexander Dennis Enviro 200MMC
McGill’s investment
McGill’s has placed an order with Pelican Bus and Coach for 22 Yutong E12 battery-electric buses. The operator says the order marks the beginning of a phase-out of diesel purchases in an effort to respond to the air quality and climate crisis.
The 12m zero-emission buses will be delivered in the third quarter of 2021. Each vehicle has been specified with the 422kW/h battery pack, which Pelican claims is capable of daily operational range of over 300km on a single charge. The delivery is aided by the Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme.
When this order was announced, there was some mutterings on social media about the wisdom of purchasing these Chinese built buses over buses made locally in Scotland or indeed the United Kingdom itself, especially as Alexander Dennis announced recently that it’ll be commencing chassis production of both BYD electric single and double-deckers at its factories, rather than import the chassis from BYD’s overseas plants. On top of that, there’s Switch Mobility’s (what used to be Optare) offerings and the new owners of what was Wrightbus (Bamford Bus Company) promising a new ‘best in class’ electric double-decker. Hopefully, it’ll do better than the Streetair, which completely flopped.
However as a commercial business, McGill’s is perfectly entitled to purchase what buses it feels best suits its needs and these buses can only help reduce emissions. They’ll be the first such standard service buses of the type in the country. There is already one running at Whitelees Wind Farm, taking visitors around the site.
Whilst Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) may have disappointed to have missed out on that initial order, it was no doubt cheered by the news a further order by McGill’s group will see its recently acquired Xplore Dundee fleet receive 12 BYD ADL Enviro400EV double-deckers, while a single BYD ADL Enviro200EV will join the 22 previously-announced Yutong E12s in the McGill’s Buses fleet at Johnstone depot.
The single-deckers are to be used on a route between Glasgow and Johnstone and will apparently wear a new livery scheme. Xplore Dundee will deploy its Enviro400EVs to service 28 between Myrekirk and Douglas via the city centre. They will be known as Electric Emeralds. The double-deckers will be the first such buses in the fleet and possibly in Scotland. There was rumours that Lothian Buses had ordered some of the type too but I’ve not seen it confirmed officially.
All the battery-electric buses and infrastructure are to be delivered in the second half of 2021, ahead of the planned - at the moment as it should have happened last year - COP26 summit in Glasgow on 1-12 November. First Glasgow is also expecting its Enviro 200EVs by then also.
In addition to the confirmed battery-electric bus orders, McGill’s says that it is in “advanced talks with a variety of partners” to bring 12 hydrogen fuel cell-electric examples into the Xplore Dundee fleet. They are due to arrive “in the next 12 months.” Dundee is part of the European Union JIVE 2 hydrogen bus project. When the addition of Dundee to JIVE2 was announced, an ADL Enviro 400FCEV was shown but as of yet, the only hydrogen powered double-deckers to enter service have been the Bamford Bus Company’s Streetdeck FCEVs.
This significant investment shows McGill’s commitment to de-carbonising its fleet. On top of these new buses, McGill’s runs a very modern diesel fleet, seen here by I4200 (YX19OTA) branded for services to Erskine.