A £17 million electrification project at the Arriva London depot in Norwood to facilitate the operation of 30 next-generation Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV battery-electric double-deckers on two Transport for London (TfL) routes has been completed.
The first of those are in service on Superloop route SL6. Electrification work at Norwood has been delivered in partnership with Zenobē and includes significant upgrades to the site’s power infrastructure and installation of state-of-the-art smart charging units.
Further support for the Norwood project has come from the Arriva Zero Emission Institute (ZEI). It works on electrification of the group’s bus depots in the UK and mainland Europe and shares best practice.
ZEI Director Matt Greener notes how completion of the Norwood work “demonstrates Arriva’s continued commitment to investing in sustainable, innovative solutions to support our [passenger transport authorities’] transition to net-zero-emission.”
He adds: “Projects like this underpin our group-wide ambition to deliver cleaner passenger transport, and we are applying this expertise across European markets. Arriva is proud to be leading from the front and encouraging greater use of sustainable passenger transport.”
Arriva London Managing Director Marcos Hart notes how the business was the first TfL contractor to introduce the next-generation Enviro400EV. Norwood has 15 chargers, all at 150kW, and they are integrated with Zenobē’s smart charging software, says Director of EV Fleet – UK and Nordics Bradley Fox.
The supplier has 13 depot electrification projects with Arriva that are live or under construction. Mr Fox adds that at Norwood, it was necessary to completely redevelop the depot including “a strategic redesign” of the existing layout.
Alexander Dennis National Account Manager Neil Gladstone says that each member of the Enviro400EV fleet delivered to Arriva London has a 14-year battery warranty and monitoring through the AD Connect telematics platform.
That data collection has shown the first buses to be performing as expected, with real-world efficiency in line with route analysis calculations made previously.
