In Range?

A £2,000 scrappage grant for motorists with older cars, announced in the Budget yesterday.

An announcement a week ago that from 2011 prospective private electric car buyers might each be grant-aided to the tune of up to £5,000. What’s in it for buses?

Well, operators who can demonstrate at least a six per cent fuel efficiency gain will from April 2010 be eligible for a three per cent increase in BSOG. This may well hasten the purchase of hybrids and concentrate manufacturing minds in making vehicles lighter but we wonder whether now is the time for the (temporary) reintroduction of some sort of New Bus Grant—or something like it.

Whereas the 1970s version was to hasten the fleet conversion to driver-only status, now could be a time to help secure UK bus manufacturing jobs in the face of a medium term decline while accelerating the pace of accessible buses and reducing emissions.

While it’s ironic that bus deliveries are currently holding up (reflecting order lead times), the number of redundancies proposed at manufacturers is an indication of things to come, as the slowdown bites operators’ forward orders.


Meanwhile, one vehicle that isn't eligible for BSOG (because it doesn't use diesel fuel) but could count towards the six per cent fuel efficiency total is Optare’s Solo EV, an all-electric version of this proven and popular minibus. A huge capital expenditure requirement adds £70,000 to the asking price which, with depreciation, puts it outside the realm of most operators, other than perhaps on demonstration routes and projects (or airport-type work, perhaps).

While it’s said that lower running costs will save about £56,000 over the expected seven year battery life, the real issue for operators is still the bus’ projected range. Current battery technology means such a vehicle would be able to operate less than three return trips on Poole to Somerford via Bournemouth, Boscombe and Christchurch Transdev Yellow Buses 1B/C. But without service trials, how are manufacturers likely to make improvements and develop a better product? And why shouldn’t existing hybrid bus technology quality for a government helping hand? Or is increasing BSOG likely to be adequate to do that?