First Bus is one of the UK’s largest bus operators with a fleet of more than 4,500 buses, serving two-thirds of the UK’s largest conurbations. First Bus is owned by First Group, a market leader in the public transport industry with bus and rail operations providing easy convenient mobility and connecting people and communities. First Bus initiated a strategic partnership with Hitachi for its decarbonisation program.
The collaboration began with the deployment of 148 electric buses at their Caledonia depot in Glasgow. We delivered an as a service offering including bus batteries for First Glasgow’s electric vehicle (EV) fleet, smart charging software to manage EV charging and a decarbonisation program exploring low carbon energy opportunities. This led to an agreement with FirstGroup plc in November 2023 to lead the UK’s shift to electric buses.
This collaboration, supporting FirstGroup’s bus fleet and infrastructure decarbonisation programme, will provide batteries for First Bus’ expanding electric bus fleet – helping to make a positive impact on air quality, tackle congestion and improve customer experience. The partnership will see up to £10 million cash investment each from Hitachi and First Group, supporting the acquisition of 1,000 batteries.
Our solution
We provide bus batteries on a subscription basis for First Glasgow’s electric fleet at the Caledonia depot. The innovative subscription model guarantees each battery’s minimum state of health, ensuring optimal performance for the bus operator throughout the contract life, and specifies the ideal battery replacement time.
Our solution also provides telematics on the Caledonia depot’s buses and electric charging points. This provides live status information, enabling remote charging, visibility on which vehicles are connected to which chargers, and visibility on bus charging durations.
Each rapid charging station is controlled via our smart charging software to ensure that power is used in the most efficient way. This minimises the draw down from the national grid at peak times, helping balance requirements and electricity costs. Our digital programming also means that each vehicle is fully charged, and the bus interiors are preheated, ready for drivers and customers from the moment the vehicles leave the depot.
We are also collaborating with First Bus to design low-carbon technologies like solar panels and battery energy storage. This will enable First to generate and consume its own electricity and deliver zero-carbon charging hubs for other business fleet users. Being technology and supplier agnostic, we are able to design and identify the most suitable solutions that best meet the needs of each location. The solutions we are designing will allow First Bus to reduce carbon and save money at each depot site.
Under the new agreement signed in November 2023, we will provide our world-leading battery charging and management services for 1,000 buses powered by the new batteries as well as a further commitment of 500 vehicles before FY 2026.
Benefits delivered to First Bus
First Bus faced a daunting challenge to achieve a zero carbon bus fleet in line with their environmental goals. We proposed an overall programme to capitalise on the breadth of capability and experience that they could bring in order to deliver a lower risk, higher quality, and lower cost solution with the following benefits to First Bus:
- One party working alongside First Bus, managing the risk and delivery of their decarbonisation programme and being the single point of contact for issue identification, triage, and resolution;
- Operational management, contract management, issue management and resolution ownership by one contracting entity to support the solution deployments and operations;
- Procurement savings through larger deals with bus OEMs to leverage greater commercial buying power and influence;
- Financing savings through access to lower cost capital and access to a wide range of commercial offerings;
- Technology and geographic service interoperability through a fully integrated solution suite covering all First Bus’s software and hardware requirements;
- Data management and machine-learning enabled optimisation of First Bus operations through a ‘single pane of glass view of the business; and
- New revenue generation opportunities across multiple depots through the effective utilisation of zero carbon sources of energy, static battery storage and 2nd party charging.
Our new agreement will allow FirstGroup to optimise bus battery efficiency and cost, resulting in materially lower future capital deployment by extending the batteries’ useful bus life beyond their initial eight-year OEM warranty periods, at zero lease cost. Through smart charging, effective battery management and dynamic energy management, First Bus, one of the UK’s largest bus operators, will also see improved energy utilisation in support of their carbon reduction objectives.