New electric buses for West Midlands following £150 million investment

Above: conventional bus passing Selfridges, Bull Ring, Birmingham (from National Express)

At Future Cities Forum in Birmingham this April, there will be discussions on how the city is working to achieve its net zero goals within the transport system.

National Express West Midlands has announced it is investing £150 million in 300 UK-made electric zero emission buses, for delivery by the end of December 2024. The buses will be deployed across the West Midlands.

The announcement came as Transport Minister Richard Holden MP visited Coventry on Friday 27th January, to view progress on the region's plans for a clean and green bus fleet. This investment is part of National Express delivering on its commitment to have a completely zero emission bus fleet in the UK by 2030.

The bus company says this will mean that over a third of the fleet will be zero emissions, which it claims is the highest proportion of any city region in the country:

'Each zero emission vehicle saves an average of 66 tonnes of carbon annually*, so this investment will save a total of nearly 20,000 tonnes from going out into the atmosphere every year. Investment in green and clean transport is a key part of plans to achieve the West Midlands 2041 target for a zero-carbon region.'

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, said:

“Local people will now be able to benefit from these wonderful buses here in the Midlands - offering them a quieter, smoother and more comfortable journey. “As we seek to tackle the climate emergency and maintain our #WM2041 net zero commitment, these British made buses are exactly what we need - saving energy, improving air quality and cutting fuel costs for operators. I cannot wait to see even more electric buses arriving in our region in the months and years ahead.”

Transport Minister Richard Holden, said: “Reliable, clean and efficient bus services at a good price are what everyone wants to see from our bus network and I am determined to do everything possible to decarbonise our transport network and support skilled jobs in next generation bus manufacturing across the UK.

“We’ve already invested hundreds of millions of pounds to kick-start the rollout of zero emission buses nationwide, and it’s great to see National Express introduce hundreds of electric buses here – helping UK manufacturing and driving down emissions and improving bus services for people across the West Midlands.”