Abellio And Zenobe Energy To Bring 34 Electric Buses To London

Zenobe Energy, a leading UK owner and operator of battery storage, announced its collaboration with Abellio in London. The project will be bringing 34 electric buses to areas across south London by March 2020.

This is the first EV financing project in the city for Zenobe since the company announced its £120 million ($146.4 million) partnership funding in May, with an aim to facilitate the electrification of transport fleets and the potential to double the number of electric vehicles on UK roads. This is the third EV project announced by the battery operator, with other schemes commissioned in Guildford and in build in Newport.

Abellio London, which operates buses for Transport for London, will be bringing these brand-new Caetano buses onto routes C10 (Canada Water to Victoria Station) and P5 (Patmore Estate to Elephant & Castle) from early next year. This will also be the first use of Portuguese manufacturer Caetano's electric city buses in the UK.

The transport sector is the largest contributor of CO2 and NOx emissions. The London Mayor is currently working hard to tackle the toxic fumes from vehicles to address the causes of poor air quality that is impacting the health of the city's occupants. Around half of London's air pollution is caused by road transport and, with Zenobe's financing working alongside the government's ULEB grants, is significantly speeding up the process of bringing zero-emission vehicles onto roads. This will help to improve air quality across London and to meet our legally binding carbon reduction targets.

Steven Meersman, Co-Founder of Zenobe Energy, said: “We're privileged to be working with Abellio on such a ground-breaking project in the capital. As a London-based company, we are delighted to play a role in the city's drive to reduce pollution and improve air quality, as we are doing in Guildford on the charging, and builds directly on the first end-to-end solution including vehicles with Newport, announced earlier this year.”

“Through our service-based model, we're supporting the EV ambition of forward-thinking operators like Abellio, lowering both the cost and the risk. We hope this is the first of many opportunities like this in London and look forward to working with other commercial fleet operators in their transition to net-zero,” he added.

Alastair Willis, Head of Commercial at Abellio, said: “We look forward to working with Zenobe to deliver this exciting project for our London bus operation. The innovative battery storage solution for our Walworth depot will allow us to ensure delivery of two zero-emission bus routes from March 2020 and provides a cost effective solution to allow us to upgrade our bus depot infrastructure to allow overnight vehicle charging of the new Caetano vehicles.”