CBEP Member Dublin Bus takes a big step in the deployment of its electric bus system

Ireland Transport Minister, NTA and Dublin Bus unveil electric bus charging infrastructure

As part of the deployment plans and in the frame of the BusConnects Programme, Dublin Bus together with NTA and the Transport Minister is deploying the charging infrastructure that will power the upcoming e-bus system.

As of November 2023, the installation of charging infrastructure that will facilitate the charging of battery-electric buses in Dublin Bus’ Summerhill Depot in Dublin has been completed and will become fully operational. The first of the new green electric buses charged using the new infrastructure are now entering full passenger service.

Chargers with a capacity to recharge 56 battery-electric buses are now operational at the depot, as part of a planned phased roll out of electric buses that is already underway.  

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Dublin Bus unveiled the charging infrastructure at the Depot, which will be one of two hubs for the city’s new green fleet.

Phibsborough is the other depot, where charging infrastructure will be completed by the end of December with the capacity to recharge a further 80 battery-electric buses. Together the two depots will support a minimum of 136 electric buses which will help make the atmosphere in the city cleaner, quieter and more sustainable.

In recent weeks, new double deck battery-electric buses have been operational on certain Dublin Bus routes including the 122 and 123, and over 360 drivers have completed an extensive testing, piloting and training programme using the new buses in recent months. Even more of these electric buses will become operational now that the charging infrastructure has been completed.

The NTA initially ordered 120 double deck battery-electric buses in 2022, from manufacturer Wrightbus in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, 100 of which will be operated by Dublin Bus.  Subsequent orders have been placed for a further 221 of these buses, of which 120 are destined for operation in Dublin. This brings the total number either in service or on order to 341 buses.

The new zero-emission fleet will replace the older diesel-powered fleet on an incremental basis as the latter buses reach the end of their efficient operational life. In the case of Dublin, that transition has now begun and by 2032 over 85% of the Dublin fleet is expected be zero-emission with a minority being low-emission hybrid diesel-electric buses.  By 2035 it is planned that these hybrid buses will also have been phased out and the fleet will be fully zero-emission.

The NTA is on schedule to meet the low/zero emission vehicle targets by 2025, set out in the Climate Action Plan, the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy (GDA) and the National Sustainable Mobility Policy Action Plan 2022-2025 which states:

• Action 13: Transition 50% of the Dublin Metropolitan PSO [public service obligation] bus services to low/zero emission vehicles; and
• Action 14: Transition 40% of the Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford metropolitan area PSO [public service obligation] bus services to low/zero emission vehicles.

Read here the official press release