CATCH THE BUZZ! Electric buses for city roads

SILENT buses are set to hit the streets of Coventry as part of a £2.4m project which will put the city “at the front of electric vehicle technology”.

Ten new electric buses will become a familiar sight on Coventry’s roads after the city was awarded £237,000 from The West Midlands Combined Authority towards its low emissions bus scheme.

The grant will help support a joint project between Coventry City Council and National Express to purchase the new buses.

Funding will also contribute to the installation of charging points at Coventry’s bus depot, as well as solar panels to generate electricity for the charging points.

Cabinet member for jobs and regeneration Councillor Jim O’Boyle said: “Coventry is positioning itself at the front of electric vehicle technology.

“So the news that we are set to work with National Express to put 10 new electric buses on our roads and install charging points and solar panels at the depot is yet another piece of the jigsaw.

“We have a rich tradition in car manufacturing but the future is certainly electric and driverless – so it’s important that we continue work on being a national leader as we innovate for the future.”

The WMCA delegated the funding for the low-emission bus scheme last Friday as part of £43m dished out to the region under the government’s Transforming Cities Fund.

The grant represents 10 per cent of the total £2.38m cost, with the remainder expected to come from a bid made to the Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles.

A decision on that is expected later this month or in December.

The city council has been keen to tackle nitrogen dioxide levels on roads which exceed legal limits, and is already in the process of developing a Local Air Quality Action Plan.

Plans were also recently revealed by the University of Warwick, in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover, to create a multi-million pound Smart City Mobility Centre to help develop driverless and electric cars of the future.

Back in February, the WMCA provided the council with £1.5m to tackle emissions in the city’s buses and retrofit 104 buses with pollution-busting technology.