Dozens more electric buses will be running in Brighton and Hove next year with the help of £5.2 million grant funding from the government.
Brighton and Hove Buses will replace 16 buses, swapping diesel for electric, on the number 7 route next spring, with help from the Department for Transport (DfT).
Later in the year, 13 more electric buses will come into service on the 5, 5A, 5B and 6 routes.
The bus company is putting up most of the money, with the total cost likely to be close to £24 million. The DfT is putting up 5.2 million.
Brighton and Hove City Council said: “Brighton and Hove is set to benefit from more national funding from the Department for Transport to replace high-emission diesel buses with low-emission electric vehicles.
“In partnership with the council, Brighton and Hove Buses will introduce a further 13 electric buses in autumn 2026, in addition to the 16 already planned for spring 2026.
“Providing more electric buses will help cut emissions and improve air quality in Brighton and Hove, including on routes in some of the city’s highest-emission areas.
“Last March, a partnership between the council and Brighton and Hove Buses was awarded £2.9 million from the DfT to support a £10.5 million project for 16 new electric buses and the charging infrastructure to support them.
“These are due be introduced in spring 2026 along route 7, an essential service that operates up to every six to eight minutes.
“We have now been awarded an additional £2.3 million funding from the same scheme to introduce a further 13 electric buses.
“The additional funding looks set to fully cover the cost of
• eight double-decker vehicles for route 6 so the current service of 6 buses every 16 minutes can increase to every 12 minutes.
• five double-decker vehicles for routes 5, 5A and 5B partially converted to electric buses
“The 13 extra buses for routes 5 and 6 are expected to be operational by September 2026.”
Labour councillor Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “With transport accounting for a third of carbon emissions in the UK, replacing diesel buses with zero-carbon alternatives will support us to be an accessible, clean and sustainable city and help us meet air quality targets.
“Thirteen more electric buses on top of the 16 already planned is fantastic news and an example of what we can achieve through a strong partnership and a shared vision.
“Having more reliable, accessible, zero-emission buses will help to reduce congestion, improve air quality and make Brighton and Hove a healthier, more mobile and cleaner city.”
Along with reduced carbon emissions and improved air quality, the council said that all the new buses would also have the same sort of features that are already common locally.
These include induction loops for passengers with hearing aids, dementia-friendly floors and flexible space for a second wheelchair user, multiple pushchairs or prams.
Brighton and Hove Buses managing director Ed Wills said: “We are delighted to receive further funding from the government through our superb partnership working with Brighton and Hove City Council.
“This is in addition to the £7 million that Brighton and Hove Buses have directly invested in the first 13 electric buses and £13 million investment to rebuild and electrify the Conway Street bus depot.
“Our passengers will enjoy quieter, smoother and greener journeys, with the added benefit of knowing their travel is environmentally friendly as these buses produce zero emissions at the tailpipe.”
Let’s hope these electric buses perform better than the Big Lemon ones that couldn’t finish the round
What do you mean? There is usually a charge strategy in place to keep services going. In the beginning, it was al guess work. With the removal of one bus it changed the strategy and increased bus changes. The worst buses were the British ones, they were sold on the pre-tense that you don’t need a dedicated charger but would charge 66% slower than a dedicated one could do. This meant more buses were needed using this method and partially the reason for lost services.
There were requests to acquire dedicated chargers for the British buses, but this never came to pass. Improvements were being made. Sometimes a service was cut due to driver sickness, or sometimes a bus was off for MOT prep. (Once a bus goes for MOT prep, it’s all agreed, the engineers keep it until test day)
To be honest, Lemon didn’t do a bad job at the start of their contract, it was only really in the last year that things went down hill and that is down to two reasons. First, running on a Sunday and extending the daytime services to midnight.
The evening service’s were never used much and to be honest, a waste of tax payers money running an empty bus.
Lemon I understand had a fleet of around twenty fully electric vehicles, some short range others long range. 7 services needed so roughly, 3 per service, 3 x 52, 3x 47 1x 16.
I think people forget that for 1 diesel, 2 or 3 electrics are required to cover the days work, so that’s 3 x the purchase and all the engineering work, servicing, MOT and repairs, insurance and tax.
I understand Lemon had trouble with having their fleet repaired by the supplier with vehicles stored at the depot waiting to be collected. On a visit earlier this year, I was told five vehicles needed to be returned with two already away and had been for months.
My thoughts being the supplier needs to get its act together, and the operator perhaps, needs to view it’s suppliers and opt for company with better build quality and better after care.
Are these new “electric buses” going to be the same ones currently on use in the 5 route that have diesel engines to charge batteries so they can run off then in the ULEZ, or are they true battery buses and, if so, where will they get recharged during the day?
Would be interested to know when all buses in the city will be entirely electric or hydrogen to meet the council’s promise to make the city #NetZero by 2030 – or has this slipped to 2040 based upon recent statements?
I think the article is pretty clear that these are fully electric buses rather than hybrid ones.
I’d imagine they would en charging them up at the depots. Buses don’t spend the entire day out on the streets so plenty of time for recharging etc
Maybe they can have some “top up” charging at e.g. the Marina for the 7s when the driver has their break.
I’m sure if you asked B&H abuses they’d tell you the current make up of the fleet amd their progress to a fully electric one.
Thanks – I’ve tried asking B&H Buses previously but they rarely respond.
Regarding buses there is also the issue of long range services such as 12, 28 and 29, and we also have B&Hs sister Metrobus, and the Stagecoach 700s.
Would like to see a complete strategy for #NetZero from this council rather than a piecemeal approach of small changes using government funding which is also our money.
Small changes is often how big changes start.
Yes this is ‘our’ money but B&H Buses is contributing the vast majority of the cost.
Don’t know about Metrobus and Stagecoach but these grants are done via a bid from local councils and the bus companies need to partner with one of those. Of course they may have applied and failed and even had grants in previous years.
One way for that to work would be to change buses at the Marina. A similar proposal was put forward to The Lemon. This way a bus stays on charge longer while the driver changes to bus currently on charge, One downside is if they are running late, you waste time taking one bus off charge to put one on charge, For this, you’d need to be able to get the cable around both sides of the bus with long cables. Park one, plug in, unplug the other and drive away. You also risk the fact the driver checks it’s on charge as well.
You didnt read the article
BHCC is going to save the planet – why are you such a doubter?
We all stand in solidarity with the Council
Nice try – from my experience, small changes can make minimal changes and can be overshadowed by other events.
If we really do want to achieve #NetZero by 2030 then we need a coordinated plan and implement schemes based upon return on investment for CO2 reduction rather than those we can get someone else to pay for.
We then need to understand that if we do achieve #NetZero it only applies the 1% the city represents of the the UK, and the UK only represents 1% of global emissions so what Brighton and Hove does is totally insignificant in dealing with a global problem.
How is replacing an existing bus with one that runs on electric going to reduce congestion?
It redudes polution.
They could just choose Euro 6 ULEZ buses for a much lower cost – as is being done by Compass.
Good for Compass.
They made their choice of bus based on their route network and infrastructure.
Does’t mean either decision is wrong.
Compass have taken over the big lemon routes, 16,47 and 52’s, using 100% diesil vehicles where lemon had Electrics.
Lemon I know were having lots of problems with a supplier meaning they had to buy replacement vehicles. The Electric experiment obviously didn’t work, so I am wondering how B&H will get on with theirs.
How? Ask someone that knows. The British buses were the problem. They were sensitive to errors and you’d have to fill a form to get them to come down and unlock a battery pack. This could be a few days, or 4 weeks. The most reliable bus was the Chinese ones. Which shows you the British way of doing it – was not efficient. It was campaigned that there were to be no more of those types of buses.
If the buses charged the same way as the Chinese ones, service would be reliable.
In addition, the 16, 47 and 52 weren’t Lemon routes, they were contracted by the council. They put them out to tender every so often, When given to Lemon, they were always 2 year contracts. This time – 4 year and Compass have no intention to use anything other than diesel buses. The council claimed that Compass did – which was not the case..
Keith 6 hours ago.
Interesting comment Keith. You say the British buses were the problem and the most reliable bus was the Chinese ones. But that’s not true is it?
Lemon had four Higer Steeds and one was off the road for a very long time and only out on contract work since Christmas and there was only one working on normal routes with the other two parked up for a couple of months waiting for parts…
Lemon ran the 16, 47 and 52 on behalf of the council, so effectively Lemon routes for the contracted period of time. Compass run the 37’s on behalf of the council, so compass routes until the retender comes up.
Hmm, contract lengths are always 4 years with a review after 2 years, although compass have a 4 year contract, in 2 years time it may be adjusted to suit the requirements, like Lemon doing Sundays and evenings.
The contract details indicated a minimum acceptance of euro six to keep the contract price down.
I guess this is good news – if just another press release, celebrating government transport subsidies.
But the main bus issue in this city is where some routes are currently so delayed by roadworks bottlenecks in rush hour that we passengers might as well get off and walk.
And the council are knowingly currently creating a new impasse for buses, at the Palace Pier.
If the commuter and visitor traffic fails to flow, then we care little if the vehicles are electric or not.
I’d also remind residents how the nighttime bus services were slashed during Covid, and they have yet to be restored. So if you work in the nighttime economy, there are no buses to get you home. For example: How can there be only one per hour on the city’s number 1 route?