The electric bus takes centre stage at Euro Bus Expo 2018

On 30 October Iosu Aguirrezabala, Area Manager of Lander Simulation, attended the largest international gathering of the bus industry and coach sector staged every two years in the British city of Birmingham.

Around 300 exhibitors had the opportunity to present their latest technological innovations, new vehicles and other related aspects over more than 25,000 m2 of exhibition space.

As expected, one of the stars of the event was the electric bus. Visitors could see and experience at close quarters vehicles presented by such leading edge manufacturers as the British companies Alexander Dennis, which had one of the largest and most striking stands at the event, and Optare.

At present the UK is leading the way in Europe in the purchase of electric buses. It currently has over 356 buses of this kind and is followed by Holland with 316.

The UK's status is the result of the commitment of the country's public authorities, numerous existing transport operators and, of course, manufacturers and technology suppliers.

At the start of 2018 the transport minister Nusrat Ghani announced that funding would be provided to 20 local authorities from the "Clean Bus Technology Fund" for the purchase of electric buses, while next year Transport for London (TfL), the transport authority for the UK capital, expects to have 240 electric buses in operation. TfL plans to stop buying diesel vehicles and exclusively purchase electric vehicles from 2018, though it is not required to do so at present.

With regard to operators, Go-Ahead London recently completed one of the largest purchases of electric vehicles in Europe, while CT4N followed its example by purchasing a large fleet in Nottingham.

To satisfy this demand, companies such as Alexander Dennis have negotiated an agreement for the manufacture and sale of electric buses with the Chinese firm ByD, the world's largest maker of electric vehicles. As a result these companies are currently the market leaders in the UK. However, there are several smaller manufacturers such as Solaris, VDL and Volvo which are also firmly committed to manufacturing electric vehicles and whose products will doubtless soon be a common sight on the streets of Britain and other European countries.

It is clear that the UK is committed to adopting the policies required to reduce transport emissions and this was reflected at the event. Other European countries are also undoubtedly moving in the same direction with varying degrees of progress being made at the level of every town and city.

At LANDER it is essential that we continue to remain abreast of the development of technology and its adoption in every market so that we can meet the changing training needs of the professional drivers of our customers. And events such as EuroBus Expo undoubtedly help us to analyse the overall needs of the European bus and coach industry.

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