City of York: Transforming public transport, tackling air pollution.

There’s a growing number of Clean Air Zones (CAZs) in cities across the UK. Electric bus fleets are playing a huge role in making sure public transport meets the standards for low emissions in these zones. 

With one of the largest zero-emissions bus services in the UK, City of York Council partnered with our experts here at Egg to design, supply and install the electric bus charging infrastructure that would power the city’s fleet. 

Reliable and sustainable EV charging for York’s buses

We started working with York Council in 2015 - and we’ve been supporting the council’s low carbon initiatives ever since. We’ve worked on a number of EV charging projects across the city, expanding the charging network and keeping the service reliable with ongoing charger maintenance.

Designing, supplying and implementing the charging infrastructure for the electrified bus route to the city centre was an exciting project for the Egg team. After all, this was one of the first electric bus routes in the north - its success could spark more green fleets in more cities. That’s a win for councils everywhere that want to reduce the impact of air pollution on residents, visitors and even buildings. That’s why we paid particular attention to the capability of the installed infrastructure and its location, to ensure the service was successful.

Understanding the challenges of going green

When it comes to making the switch to electric buses, designing and implementing the right infrastructure to keep the service moving reliably in an established city throws up a few challenges.

The City of York was no exception - and that’s why having the right experts on side is so important. Some of the challenges of the project included designing the necessary charging infrastructure, significant civil works, DNO applications and liaison, tight installation deadlines and management of grid infrastructure upgrades.

Successfully powering buses in the City of York

If there’s one thing our Egg team does well, it's to rise to a going-green challenge. Thanks to our dedicated project manager’s effort and effective management, the design, supply and installation of the charging infrastructure for York’s buses was a success. The program was delivered safely and efficiently, and installed in just 6 days with minimal disruption to the city.

During the design process, we included seven 50kw chargers to meet the needs of the bus service. We considered each site’s power availability, charger location, vehicle accessibility and the environmental impact of the station.

The best charging location was a terminus, shared by two routes operating in a figure of eight. This location allowed for vehicles to receive a rapid charge of 10-15% of battery capacity twice a day as they passed through the terminus, and would be in addition to overnight charging at the bus depot. 

Net-Zero goals 

York’s Ebuss route is part of the City of York Council’s ambition to become net-zero by 2030. Our involvement throughout the design has enabled the city to see an estimated reduction of 1.6million tonnes of CO2 each year - that’s a significant step towards cleaner air for everyone in the City of York. 

As the council’s Air Quality Action Plan continues, watch this space - and take a deep breath of that cleaner air.

Read more about the latest from Egg here.