Go-Electric

The Go-Ahead Group continue to establish a platform for the electric bus market as route 360 becomes the first in London to have three different zero-emission bus types in its allocation.

Route 360 is perhaps our greenest single-decker bus service. The service introduced hybrid diesel-electric technology to London in February 2006 with the Wright Electrocity, mounted onto the VDL SB120 chassis like its diesel cousin, the Cadet. WHY1-6 were the first examples of the Electrocity introduced to the 360, before WHY7 and WHY8-13 made the service completely hybrid by 2011.

The Wright Group have now replaced the Electrocity with a new fully electric product range called the StreetAir. WES1 (LJ17 THF) is the first example of these, entering service on 17 October 2017. The StreetAir is based on The Wright Group's StreetDeck chassis, strongly resembling  their Gemini 2 frontal arrangement. Further design influences around the bus are taken from the StreetLite. On the more technical side, the StreetAir is equipped with a Siemens electric drive system, explaining why the motors hum like a 'New Routemaster' when in transit. So, put simply, the Wright StreetAir EV DF is a single-decker Gemini 2 with the ride quality of an LT (when it is in electric ... or, whenever it manages to go into electric). And the resultant ride quality is actually quite pleasant.

However, this was already overshadowed by the lack of seats onboard one of the weirdest saloons I have ever explored. A trait customary to city routes 507 and 521, their buses sacrifice seating numbers towards the front of the bus compared to the average single-decker. I assume this is to increase standee capacity as a way of increasing the overall capacity of the bus. For example, the space needed to fix two seats accommodating two passengers could, hypothetically, fit four standees in the absence of these seats - an especially efficient strategy for the 507 and 521, since the relatively short duration of these routes means shorter journeys, reducing the overall standing experience, anyway.

Yet WES1 seems to be deprived of both seating and standing capacity altogether. I ensured that before publishing this review, I caught up with the bus again to revise its capacity issues and noticed that the bus has two luggage areas behind the entrance doors, as opposed to the standard one. The second one is positioned behind the driver's cab, but then has a notice above it saying 'No Luggage In This Area' - on my journey, a woman judiciously ignored it by placing her belongings in this area. Trying to figure out some justification for the notice, I thought the area might contain some internal components, but there is a tall compartment behind the last row of seats at the rear-end indicating the location of key components such as the motors and this is confirmed by its hum being more strongly felt underfoot from the back of the bus. Even if the area is a storage compartment, it should not look identical to the standard luggage area opposite it if it does not permit luggage. Furthermore, it forms part of a platform in which a randomly located seat is fixed behind it, as if some form of compensation for the absurd consumption of space before it that could have been used to accommodate more seats. Therefore, as far as seating is concerned, the layout of the saloon only becomes standard and satisfactory from behind the exit doors, otherwise I am completely confused as to what The Wright Group have done for capacity with this otherwise welcome prototype.

I like to think that my reviews contribute somehow to the passenger feedback that bus companies and manufacturers may (or may not) consider when thinking about improving their services. I also doubt it, but Alexander Dennis have been particularly vocal about how bus companies and passenger feedback has been instrumental in the production of their latest "Major Model Change" project. And they have seemingly addressed my last rant questioning the omission of rear windows from their initial batch of E200EVs, for their second batch, SEe52-65, includes them for the standardised upgrade of route 360. Not only does this (you would assume mandatory) feature allow passengers to have a view of the road behind them - for example, to look out for a alternative bus route and better time their interchange - the restored glassware also makes the E200EV's rear-end more attractive. Yes, it has a nice back-off, indeed.

Chasing after various photo opportunities of the route's sole StreetLite last year gave me enough experiences on the 360 to understand the behaviour of the service at its busiest and the capacity of these SEes are an exceptional match for the demand of route 360. If the Gemini 3 range has showed WrightBus' competitive edge over Alexander Dennis' Enviro400H in the double-decker market (a highly debated rivalry in the bus scene), then Alexander Dennis come close to ridiculing their competitors in the single-decker electric market with a superior seating capacity of 31 aboard the E200EV, as opposed to the StreetAir's inefficient 23. While Wright have appeared to have been remiss in this area, Alexander Dennis have managed to credibly squeeze in two extra seats directly behind the driver's cab - which I actually find a bit obstructive for view, although good for capacity - and slot in an additional - and usable, albeit smaller - luggage area behind these seats, too. 14 seats complete the front saloon, compared to an embarrassing 5 for the StreetAir EV DF, while the StreetAir comes back to share a total of 17 seats with the E200EV towards the back of the saloon.

To be fair, I cannot remember being overly impressed when the first E200EVs arrived at Waterloo (RA) following their highly anticipated build-up, but this second batch better demonstrates the keenness for innovation which is supposed to define the Alexander Dennis-BYD partnership and their electric products. But let me not stop with the capacity comparisons I have just made.

From SEe52-65, we can see the potential of ADL-BYD's merged resources starting to flourish. Alexander Dennis' simple yet smart saloon retains the USB port feature found behind each seat and BYD have also maintained the fairly smooth manoeuvrability characterising the ride quality of the E200EV with these examples; within five minutes of my first ride, I had already began to feel satisfied with the 360 upgrade, a feeling I have not felt about a bus for a while, now. A tight obstacle course through the affluent residencies of South Kensington and Sloane Square fully tested the manoeuvrability of the 10.8m vehicle at the start of my first electric 360 experience, one which the driver approached with deliberation to successfully complete, the bus rewarding him with extra grip and control around the corners to do so.

The bus exceeded 20mph on many occasions to diffuse concerns that the E200EV is restricted to 20mph, following suggestions of such restrictions with the initial batch at Waterloo. However, my attention could not be kept on the speedometer alone, for I found the style of the dashboard setup to have such a clean-cut yet elegant simplicity to it that it made observing the motions of the steering wheel from the driver's input before it boost my intrigue for the art of driving itself. As much as I try to describe these nuances in a way accessible to all, I can only apologise if this somewhat rhapsodic aside only makes sense to those who share such a feeling about driving.

The air-conditioning can get noisy to undermine the otherwise efficiently low noise levels, but considering they are electric this is a relatively minor point and perhaps one that highlights how quiet the motors are to be comparing its noise levels to the air-con! What was inexcusably subtractive, however, were some vibrations of a constant but low intensity reverberating through the seating from the battery or energy systems. The seats are well padded, though, so, when I say "low intensity", the average passenger is unlikely to notice it at all, but perhaps something to work on for future batches.

Lastly, at low speeds - either at the start of acceleration or when braking - the bus grinds slightly underfoot. I personally find this subtlety to add to the firm drive of the E200EV and makes the bus not so smooth that it is virtually gliding under foot but smooth enough that the feedback from the tarmac can be felt in detail. I say this gives the ride quality "character", without agitating the bodywork. A bus so smooth can only have "character" if it looks and then goes the extra effort to behave like a coach.

But let's just take a moment to appreciate the exceptional match for the 360 that is SEe52-65. We should expect nothing less than an outstanding performance upgrade from the decent but dingy-looking Wright Electrocity buses they preceded, especially since these new buses are fully electric and are supposed to be the future of, at least, our single-decker bus fleet. What Go-Ahead London have achieved with this upgrade is class and an allegiance with Alexander Dennis-BYD to better showcase the quality of their E200EV with this profound amelioration of route 360.

And just when I have praised ADL-BYD for bringing back the rear window, BYD continue this tiresomely remiss omission on their independent products. Take the sole BYD K8UR as an example.

The bus was first registered as LJ16 EZS in September 2016 before photographers made evident its elusive service on route 360 from 17 January 2017. Even its product details were unclear - the bus is very similar to EB1-2 but has a noticeably updated lower frontal design and its electric motors can apparently be charged wirelessly ... which is what I have inferred from the "rumoured" plate technology described in the caption of one photo establishing the vehicle as a London bus. Initially on trial with Brighton & Hove, the bus entered trackable service on 12 December 2017 as EB3, a demonstrator on loan with Go-Ahead. I caught up with the bus a few days later and found it to be quite a step back from what BYD have managed to produce in partnership with ADL.

Seats were lacking towards the back of the saloon and space towards the front is largely consumed by the battery pack, meaning the main seating layout properly starts almost halfway down the bus! Although, a seat behind the entrance doors, first made common with Alexander Dennis' Enviro400, compensates. BYD might have sneakily made note of this feature from their Scottish partners.

If we are again let down by the seating arrangements of an electric bus, that is the only let down from the BYD K8UR - this review only gets better from here. I barely pay attention to the dashboard of a bus as I focus more on the driver's driving style and try to merge this understanding with how the bus feels, both in terms of comfort, driveline and ride quality, to create an overall opinion of the bus. On this occasion, though, my attention got caught by how much the entire dashboard display bedazzles the eye. Dashboards, the electronic control set-up facing the driver behind the steering wheel, and complete with a screen in the middle providing status information for the bus, are not something that have interested me as an enthusiast, despite the fact that from time-to-time other enthusiasts have raved about them. I just found the lighting of the wide dash to give an attractively bright detail to the driver's cab, noticeable from outside the cab which itself is exceptionally spacious, too. EB3, for any dashboard fanatics!

Also, the driveline is better than I can remember from the original EBs. It is complete with a more refined transit tone which makes less annoying the high-pitched battery whine customary to BYD buses. Overall, the K8UR is the best single-decker BYD have independently brought to our streets and I see progress in their work. Just show us 'the power to make life better' by ticking off the basics first - sort out the flipping rear-end with a window!

The rear-end designs.

This year sees more demand for electric buses. Go-Ahead have already completed their acquisition of route 153 from CT Plus with more 10.8m ADL-BYD E200EVs. SEe66-76 are based at Northumberland Park (NP) for the 153, with SEe65 as well as EB3 now also on the route having since moved to the garage. Additionally, an Optare MetroDecker EV demonstrator has been in limited service on route 36 and a new manufacturer, Van Hool, are another new entry to our electric bus fleet with two of London's first hydrogen-electric buses, currently supplementing the existing hydrogen-powered Wright Pulsar buses exclusive to route RV1.

As you can tell from how long it has taken me to write this post since the 360 converted to electric buses, I am busy nowadays so it is becoming more difficult to cover service changes to the detail I think a blog post deserves. My reviews shall continue more frequently on my Flickr Photostream in the captions of selected photos as a more efficient way to keep up-to-date with the bus scene, where I am particularly looking forward to checking out the next electric buses expected for route 46 in June.

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