Acton Very Green

It's been a while, hasn't it?

BCE47003 on a very wet first day of electric bus service on Route 94.
© Aubrey

On 31st January 2020, the 94 received its brand new electric double deckers, intending to be the third fully electric double decker bus route (albeit the 134 has not fully converted yet) in London. 29 of these BYD-ADL Enviro 400EVs were ordered by London United RATP as part of the new 94 contract. This makes the route the third electric route at Shepherd's Bush Garage, after the 70 and C1.


BCE47003 at Charles II Street awaiting departure for Acton Green
© Aubrey

These ADL Enviro 400EVs were initially introduced as two buses within the mix of the conventional hybrid buses, but due to an imminent Piccadilly line closure where extra buses were required on Routes 9 and 391, the route was very quickly converted to electric. 13th-14th February marked to be sudden full conversion, with the 94 turning electric both day and night.


Due to roadworks on Regent Street, 94 was curtailed to Oxford Circus, but still ran with the full schedule towards Piccadilly, hence a stack of 5 BCEs on stand in Oxford Circus.
© Aubrey

This makes the 94 the only electric bus route on Oxford Street, after the trial BYD double deckers on Route 98 moved to Uno ahead of their school route acquisitions. A tad ironic considering that the only no local emission route on said street is the one that TfL mooted to cut to reduce the pollution and amount of buses on Oxford Street.


BCE47015 passing Selfridges enroute to Oxford Circus.
© Aubrey

Obviously, the introduction of these buses meant a bunch of ADHs and VHs have shuffled round. Some of the ADHs have moved to the Quality Line subsidiary for Routes 406 and 418, replacing 2007 Enviro 400s.


VH45124 was the odd old style Gemini 3 at Shepherd's Bush, moving to Stamford Brook for the 306 and E3. It is seen approaching Hammersmith Grove on the 306.
© Aubrey


The same bus is also seen on the E3 at Turnham Green Station, this time not too far from its old haunting grounds of the 94, and prior the H91 when it was at Hounslow Heath.
© Aubrey

The ride inside the 94 BCEs seems smooth enough, with a very quick acceleration. This is certainly aided by the electric drive providing a lot of torque immediately.


As with all electric buses in London, the USB chargers come as standard, as well as the cramped rear interior layout on these BYD/Enviro 400EVs. BCE47007 is the example shown here.
© Aubrey


BCE47003 shows the upper deck layout, complete with very visible air vents on the upper deck and the USB chargers on every seatback.
© Aubrey

It is good seeing electric buses in our cities, with London certainly ramping up their efforts. However, of course, there are the heavy environmental impacts in creating the batteries in the first place. One must be mindful of this, as production in itself produces a lot of pollution.

The Chinese company BYD certainly has a massive foothold in the UK with their buses, having been there first. They do dominate the electric market, with only Abellio, Arriva and London United having non-BYD electric buses.


We are slowly returning back to blogging, after a 6 month hiatus.
New posts will be alerted on my personal Twitter, @L1Group

Post by Aubrey

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