As featured in Route One, The Scotsman, Coach & Bus Week, Transport Engineer and The Gazette.

Zenobē, the EV fleet and battery storage specialist, is extending its working relationship with leading Scottish bus operator McGill’s to bring more electric bus services to west central Scotland.

The continued collaboration will see the electrification of a bus depot at Greenock, due to go live in the first quarter of 2023, and the expansion of the electric depots at Inchinnan and Johnstone, facilitating the operation of 41 new electric buses. This brings the total number of electric buses in the McGill’s fleet to 109.

This announcement follows the awarding of funding from the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) to McGill’s for new electric buses and the infrastructure to support them. ScotZEB was launched to support the swift transition of the bus market to zero-emission technologies through the use of innovative business models.

Zenobē will be funding the batteries on the 41 Pelican Yutong vehicles and will be building the new infrastructure across sites, as well as implementing its end-to-end software solution to manage the fleet charging and resulting power requirements. Against a backdrop of soaring energy prices, the vehicles will be powered up during off-peak times, supporting operators to go green in a way that minimises operational costs.

This builds on an established working relationship between Zenobē and McGill’s, who initially worked together to electrify depots at Johnstone, Inchinnan and Dundee to facilitate the launch of 68 electric buses. This was partly funded by the Scottish Government’s Scottish Ultra Low Emissions Bus Scheme (SULEB), the scheme that preceded ScotZEB. The next phase is already being worked on to design solutions for the introduction of zero emission buses to Stirling, Falkirk, West Lothian and Edinburgh.

Today’s announcement marks another milestone in Scotland’s drive towards net zero and presses home the point that, in Scotland, zero emission buses are not just for large city centres. The country is becoming a globally important destination for innovation and investment in zero-emission mobility, with world-leading 2045 net zero targets and a commitment to a just transition. Zenobē is committed to supporting these goals and is a member of the Scottish Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce, which recently published its pathway to a zero-carbon bus sector. Zenobē has a planned investment in Scotland of more than £690 million in the next five years.

Steven Meersman, Co-founder and Director of Zenobē, said:

“We’re proud to play a part in driving Scotland towards its ambitious net zero goals, with this project forming part of the c. £690 million we intend to invest in the country in the next five years. I am also very excited to expand our collaboration with McGill’s after our significant work together ahead of COP26 in Glasgow last year, which is already successfully delivering cleaner journeys.”

Ralph Roberts, CEO of McGill’s, said:

“We are delighted to be extending our work with Zenobē. We are committed to offering our customers clean journeys to help improve air quality and protect the environment and are proud to be announcing another important milestone in decarbonising our industry. In the last 12 months, McGill’s has delivered 7.5 million passenger journeys on zero emission buses over 3 million vehicle miles. In conjunction with Scotland’s clean grid, this is game changing for our planet.”

Notes to editors

For further information, please contact:

For Zenobē: zenobe@standagency.com | 07811 042 863

About Zenobē Energy Ltd. (Zenobē):

Zenobē is an international EV fleet and battery storage specialist, headquartered in the UK with operations in Europe and Australasia. It has c.235 MW of contracted storage assets and 1GW in development, around 25% market share of the UK EV bus sector and c.540 electric vehicles contracted globally. The company is the largest owner and operator of EV buses in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Zenobē’s fleet solution is driving the adoption of electric vehicles and reducing emissions from the transport and logistics sectors. Its ETaaS (Electric Transport-as-a-Service) solution provides fleet operators and local authorities with a full solution for a pay-per-month fee including charging infrastructure, battery replacement and award-winning software. The company’s pioneering battery storage offering enables power grid operators to provide clean, secure and affordable power, accelerating the global transition to Net Zero energy systems. Zenobē is also a leader in repurposing EV batteries after their first life, providing incremental power solutions to large business and the film and events industries.

For more information, please visit  www.zenobe.com

About McGill’s:

Founded in 1936, McGill’s has depots in Greenock, Inchinnan, Johnstone, Dundee, Stirling, Falkirk, Livingston and Balfron. McGill’s is owned by the billionaire businessmen Sandy & James Easdale and prides itself on high-level customer service and invests heavily in the new vehicles, driver training and development. The company has in-house training academies in 4 locations.

McGill’s worked closely with the Prince’s Trust on the ‘Get Into Bus Engineering’ scheme, to allow younger workers an opportunity to become engineers with McGill’s and this programme has now been extended with in-house engineering training courses at their academies. The company is also accredited as an Investor in Young People.

McGill’s Bus Service Limited is registered in Scotland (SC027238).