Longest electric bus route

[Leedsbusman]

Does anyone know what is the longest local bus service operated primarily by electric buses? I’m aware of the 7 and 36 in Harrogate which are c30 miles and 28 miles long on a quick check on Google maps.

Anyone know how long the 358 is in London?

 

[GusB]

Does anyone know what is the longest local bus service operated primarily by electric buses? I’m aware of the 7 and 36 in Harrogate which are c30 miles and 28 miles long on a quick check on Google maps.

Anyone know how long the 358 is in London?

I think you're probably going to have to specify exactly what you mean by "local bus service". Do you mean routes that are registered with the Traffic Commissioner?

As an example, Ember uses electric coaches on routes between various cities in Scotland, some of which are registered. E1 is Edinburgh to Aberdeen and E3 is Glasgow to Dundee.

 

[SSmith2009]

before the recent split of the service Centrebus' Orbital service in Leicester was a 30 mile round trip and the UK's longest orbital bus service.

BBC article from 2022
UK's longest orbital bus service

 

[stuu]

The T1 between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth is up to 60ish miles depending on the route

 

[Hyebone]

Depending on the day of the week, the Stagecoach Yorkshire X17 runs a grand distance of 47.12 miles between Barnsley and Wirksworth.

Now here's the problem with this... The allocated Enviro400EVs are currently banned from any graphs containing X17 trips. BUT... it's not for battery capacity concerns because of the distance. They are experiencing a manner of failures with their brakes, paired with braking upon reaching 48mph rather than just holding that speed. These issues are causing problems on the motorway and bypass sections, as well as Slack Hill. Oh the joys of ADL...

Might I add that our Yutong single decks are handling this route fine when allocated

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Depending on the day of the week, the Stagecoach Yorkshire X17 runs a grand distance of 47.12 miles between Barnsley and Wirksworth.

Now here's the problem with this... The allocated Enviro400EVs are currently banned from any graphs containing X17 trips. BUT... it's not for battery capacity concerns because of the distance. They are experiencing a manner of failures with their brakes, paired with braking upon reaching 48mph rather than just holding that speed. These issues are causing problems on the motorway and bypass sections, as well as Slack Hill. Oh the joys of ADL...

Might I add that our Yutong single decks are handling this route fine when allocated

The OP did specify routes operated primarily by electric buses. So far the X17 does not meet this criterion: the basic service needs 9 vehicles but rarely seems to get more than 2 or 3 EVs. Hopefully this will change at some point. For those not familiar journeys don't normally run end-to-end; the service is effectively two overlapping routes, Barnsley to Matlock and Sheffield to Wirksworth.

 

[Buzby]

Ember’s E3 & E5 (Dundee to Glasgow & Glasgow to Fort William tales some beating - fully charged on departing Dundee, it doesn’t recharge until Fort William, changing only the route number. This works out at 79 + 71 miles =150 miles

 

[Spsf3232]

Ember’s E3 & E5 (Dundee to Glasgow & Glasgow to Fort William tales some beating - fully charged on departing Dundee, it doesn’t recharge until Fort William, changing only the route number. This works out at 79 + 71 miles =150 miles

The E7 will cover more miles as they are only charging in Aberdeen covering the 200+ miles on a single charge.

 

[Mwanesh]

Depending on the day of the week, the Stagecoach Yorkshire X17 runs a grand distance of 47.12 miles between Barnsley and Wirksworth.

Now here's the problem with this... The allocated Enviro400EVs are currently banned from any graphs containing X17 trips. BUT... it's not for battery capacity concerns because of the distance. They are experiencing a manner of failures with their brakes, paired with braking upon reaching 48mph rather than just holding that speed. These issues are causing problems on the motorway and bypass sections, as well as Slack Hill. Oh the joys of ADL...

Might I add that our Yutong single decks are handling this route fine when allocated

Could just be a bad batch .National Express have ADL electrics on on the X1 they are coping well even on the Birmingham to Coventry route with sections at national speed limit

 

[DaveLondon]

Could just be a bad batch .National Express have ADL electrics on on the X1 they are coping well even on the Birmingham to Coventry route with sections at national speed limit

I had not picked up that National Express had ADL Electrics. Their examples are BYD with ADL bodywork - a totally different (and arguably) way better product.

 

[Snex]

M96 I'd guess - https://www.stagecoachbus.com/routes/north-scotland/M96/aberdeen-inverness/XAAM096.I

It's roughly 100 mile long from Inverness to Aberdeen.

 

[Leedsbusman]

I think you're probably going to have to specify exactly what you mean by "local bus service". Do you mean routes that are registered with the Traffic Commissioner?

As an example, Ember uses electric coaches on routes between various cities in Scotland, some of which are registered. E1 is Edinburgh to Aberdeen and E3 is Glasgow to Dundee.

Local Bus Service has an established definition “A local bus service uses public service vehicles (PSVs) to carry passengers who pay separate fares over short distances”. Broadly these are those registered with the Traffic Commissioner outside London or Greater Manchester.

While Ember registers some of its services they are operated by coaches rather than buses so I was expecting them to be excluded.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Saturday at 20:26 ==

M96 I'd guess - https://www.stagecoachbus.com/routes/north-scotland/M96/aberdeen-inverness/XAAM096.I

It's roughly 100 mile long from Inverness to Aberdeen.

Does that use buses or coaches?

 

[Buzby]

Seeking ‘the longest’ seems counter intuitive as many electric ‘bus’ services may complete several round trips on a single charge and perhaps additionally change route numbers too.

 

[johncrossley]

Anyone know how long the 358 is in London?

http://www.londonbusroutes.net/details.htm#352

says 25 km (15 miles)

The longest route in London at 24 miles, the SL7, is due electric buses fairly shortly.

 

[ALEMASTER]

The OP did specify routes operated primarily by electric buses. So far the X17 does not meet this criterion: the basic service needs 9 vehicles but rarely seems to get more than 2 or 3 EVs. Hopefully this will change at some point. For those not familiar journeys don't normally run end-to-end; the service is effectively two overlapping routes, Barnsley to Matlock and Sheffield to Wirksworth.

On a Sunday the X17 does do the full route from Barnsley to Wirksworth, however at present the X17 isn't electric but should be soon once all the E400EVs are available for service with their issues fixed (just requires a software update I believe).

 

[Teapot42]

I’d dispute that claim, as a ‘critical brake failure’ warning is almost certainly going to be a faulty sensor of some sort. Software updates regularly deal with such issues.

Hard to tell without knowing the exact failure, but it's also worth considering that braking on EVs is software controlled. If it's the part of the braking cycle where the motor regenerates in to the battery then this is more likely to be affected by software issues.

The fact the buses are still in service would indicate it isn't a serious issue. I'd guess more likely the system is failing safe and preventing the vehicle from moving, rather than what would more typically be considered a brake failure where they fail to slow the vehicle. I'd love to know the actual problem though - as someone with an engineering background it's always interesting to understand and learn from things like this.

 

[Snex]

Does that use buses or coaches?

It's ran by coaches, but it's very much just a Stagecoach service. It's just an express version of the 10. Quite a few routes in Northern Scotland use coaches just because of the sheer length of the routes and people actually making the journeys.

 

[Leedsbusman]

It's ran by coaches, but it's very much just a Stagecoach service. It's just an express version of the 10. Quite a few routes in Northern Scotland use coaches just because of the sheer length of the routes and people actually making the journeys.

Thanks - my query was specifically about routes which used electric buses rather than electric coaches.

 

[KrisEK]

Thanks - my query was specifically about routes which used electric buses rather than electric coaches.

Stagecoach West Scotland's 4 often runs with Volvo BZLs now, that around 40 miles each way Glasgow to Ayr.