Fresh attempt to bring electric buses to Jersey roads

Saturday 21 January 2023

Jersey is having another go at bringing electric buses onto its roads, with a fully zero-emission electric bus trialled in Guernsey this week now making its way across the water.

The bus - a Yutong E9 - will arrive on Monday morning and start 'out of service' trials across all of Liberty Bus's routes.

LibertyBus will be analysing data on energy consumption charging requirements and manoeuvrability on the island bus routes.

It's not the first time electric buses have been trialled on island roads.

In August 2019, a double decker electric bus - a Metrodecker EV - was trialled in Jersey for six weeks, though, after repeated breakdowns, it was deemed unsuitable for the island's roads. A follow-up trial with a single decker bus was scheduled for February 2020, but had to be delayed due to supply issues.

In June 2021, the then-Infrastructure Minister Deputy Kevin Lewis said that costs were a key reason as to why the island had not gone electric with its bus fleet.

The latest trial is the result of a partnership with Pelican Engineering, a family-owned business based in Yorkshire, which is the sole importer of Yutong buses and coaches in the UK and has successfully brought more than 600 coaches and 250 buses into service.

"We are honoured to be working in partnership with such a forward thinking passenger transport provider as LibertyBus," Ian Downie, Head of Yutong UK, commented.

"The benefits of our vehicles are that they are tried, tested and proven around the world. Not only are they zero emission, but they also have unrivalled passenger comfort, including full air conditioning. This will encourage the travelling public to leave their cars at home use public transport, further decarbonising Jersey".

LibertyBus Director Kevin Hart added: "We are excited about trialling the electric bus on the Island. The Yutong E9 is a great little bus and we can't wait to share the results of the trial with the Government of Jersey."

The bus will be on show on Wednesday 25 January between 10:30 and 13:00 for islanders to take a closer look.

The Yutong E9 in detail...

Length? 8.9 metres

Width? 2.4 metres

Passenger capacity? Up to 62 passengers, with 23 seats wheelchair accessible

Range? The vehicle is electrically driven, using a single drive motor which is powered by CATL 255 kWh batteries. This means that the vehicle can complete over 195 miles on a single charge.

Charging? The batteries have industry leading battery safety fitted as standard. Charging is completed using DC CCS2 charge guns, allowing compatibility with other electric vehicles – such as BMW I 8. The vehicle can be fully charged within 2 hours.