New energy buses cannot afford to replace batteries

Do battery electric buses exist?

Battery electric buses are so dominant that alternatives barely exist. Let’s characterize China a bit. It’s roughly the same size as the United States.

Are battery electric buses more efficient?

Batteries are the most efficient mechanism for storing electricity that we’ve invented. Trolley buses, the ones with the overhead wires, are even more efficient than battery electric buses, but modern ones have batteries too, and the cost of installing and maintaining additional overhead wires eats into those efficiency costs.

How much does a new battery bus cost?

A new battery bus costs around half a million pounds. Repurposing an older vehicle is half the price. Chief Executive Jean-Marc Gales said: "This is for bus companies that want to decarbonise faster, but cannot afford the investment a new bus requires.

How many battery electric buses are there in China?

Let’s start with the biggest one. One big country has tried all of these different types of drive trains and fuels, and right now they have over 600,000 battery electric buses on the roads of their cities, and a few hundred or a couple of thousand of any of the others. The massive natural experiment in China has already played out.

Are trolley buses more efficient than battery electric buses?

Trolley buses, the ones with the overhead wires, are even more efficient than battery electric buses, but modern ones have batteries too, and the cost of installing and maintaining additional overhead wires eats into those efficiency costs. It’s typically only useful on the highest use routes downtown in cities.

Will a new electric bus last a decade?

The company says retro-fitting older vehicles will appeal to operators and local authorities that cannot find the money for new ones, and expects it will extend the life of each bus by a decade. Wrightbus is the UK's largest manufacturer of new electric buses, producing 1,000 in 2023.