On Monday 10th February, the Hinduja group’s firm Ashok Leyland said that its British subsidiary had bagged orders for 37 electric double-decker buses in London. Optare PLC has entered a partnership with the Tower Transit Group to launch two new electric routes in London. The 37 zero-emission Metrodecker buses are being built at Optare’s factory in Sherburn, near Leeds.
The Metrodecker had entered service last summer. The current order from Tower Transit, which was awarded contracts for routes 23 and C3, is the third major contract for the Metrodecker. In June 2018, Optare had bagged an order for 31 double-decker buses from London Metroline. Optare hopes to have about 100 units in service by the end of the year.
Now Optare aims to gradually replace all 6,000 buses plying in Central London with zero-emission models within a decade. The company said it spent a significant amount of time over the past three years to understand the EV ecosystem and has developed a portfolio based on modular architecture that delivers “most mileage” using “least energy”.
