Electric, Hydrogen & Hybrid Electric Buses in Ireland

I haven't been on the EWs much, but I noticed that the next stop screens often aren't working.

The 2 or 3 times I've been on them the screens upstaris weren't working at all. One time it was blank and another time it just showed the manufacturer's logo.

They're fairly large screens so it's definitely a poor use of space to only show the next stop.

I read a very interesting article about Wrightbus from the Autocar website this morning. They have opened up a factory in Bicester in England to begin a programme of converting their previous diesel bus fleet stock to electric vehicles. The retrofitting is currently being done for their Streetdeck buses at the moment. They are going to do the Gemini 2 fleet as the next batch of older stock to electric vehicles in the next while.

The buses that eligible for this retrofit programme from Wrightbus have to be aged between 5 and 9 years old.

They carry out the work of decarbonising the buses from diesel power to electric batteries in about three weeks. The decarbonisation process from Wrights gives the older vehicles an additional lifespan of 10 years once they have been converted to electric batteries. The electric batteries give a charging rate of 150kw.

I'm not sure if the NTA would want to go through with this process of taking out a small number of buses at a time by shipping them over to England to carry out this work. Have they discussed anything with Wrights or the DoT about taking part in a retrofit programme for their current Wrightbus fleet stock within Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann & Go Ahead Ireland?

Would Volvo not have a say in this as the SG is on a Volvo chassis the bodywork is only Wrightbus

I hope I’m not pulling this thread off-topic, but does anyone here know what the deal with those new hybrid buses in Cork is? It appears as if at least 2-3 of these well-rounded yokes are in operation on city bus routes, I’ve caught them twice on the 220 in recent weeks. Is this just to fill some gaps, or is a wider roll-out planned?

There will be a wider rollout.

However it will need the new depot at Tivoli to come on stream for a significant expansion to happen.

I remember years ago, an ex Dublin bus RH on the Dublin to Limerick run. Arrived 2 hours late.

They are getting transferred from Limerick to Cork since Limerick now have electric buses

Speaking of Cork, and somewhat O/T as well….

Is there a Depot number for the services they run down there? Back in my days of using Dublin Bus, if there was an issue with a bus not showing or something else, you could just call Clontarf or Phibsboro or whatever and give out to the local controller who could then radio the driver.

In Cork it seems to go to some generic callcentre number that has no info on the service/bus at all. Given the recently published practises of drivers being instructed to skip stops or buses not showing at all, that's not much use - probably by design!

Capwell is currently the only depot in Cork, yes. A temporary depot in Tivoli is planned (planning application currently being sought). This will be required in advance of the bus connects rollout there, as currently Capwell is bursting at the seams!

That should not of happened, the controller knows what percent the battery is on as does the driver, if I'm driving one and it gets to 15 percent I do call it in.

BK 99% of the time they do go back to garage some do stay out aswel

Have the EW's been out for that length of time on other Dublin Bus routes or is it just a one off issue when encountering the low batteries on a particular route? I think having an EV bus out for a 16 hour shift on one route is a pretty good achievement. However why did the scheduler at the depot did not got the memo that the bus had a low battery from the driver in the first place? Did the depot staff in Phibsboro know that particular bus was out for that length of time already before it had encountered the issue with having the low battery before it went dead in Huntstown?

Bad accident today on Dame Street today involving an EW. Reports the driver lost control of the bus and ended up hitting a lamp post. Wondering if it's possible the accident could be due a fault with the bus.

Strange for a driver to lose control of a bus on straight stretch in the city centre where a driver wouldn't be going particularly fast and wasn't at a bus stop either. I guess it'll all come out.

Edit: read elsewhere the driver had a medical episode

Nolan's look to have a brand-new fully electric Wrights Electroliner working their Microsoft contract, alongside the electric Higer Steeds. Must say they seem to be expanding a good bit in recent years!