(11 Jan 2023, 10:48 pm)Malarkey wrote From doing a bit of googling Electric Buses have a shell life of 12 Years regardless of whether it's Mini/Midi or Double Deck with a potential Battery Replacement within that period.

I think HEV's are the way forward when it comes to mileage range more so for routes that are long distance like the X21, I do wonder how an Electric Bus would cope with the demands of a route like the X10 which is something that has not been tested.

Main issue Go North East has right now is the large majority of there fleet is 9-12 years old, you could argue it's an aging fleet with some routes such as the 4, 10's, 56, 60 & 309/310/311 not seeing upgrades in New Buses for 10 Years now and have only had a mid-life refurbishment, the remaining 829* and 83** Series Versa's at Riverside/Deptford are now at Shell Life and much like the Solos should be getting earmarked to be replaced, unfortunately for those in Sunderland they are not going to see any new buses in the immediate future fand I can only see cascades, no doubt they'll get the 17plate Streetlites back at some point.

We need to look beyond the vehicle for a solution. Comparing it to the smartphone generation, we don't rely on the internal battery to last us the day. We rely on infrastructure in place, wherever we are, to top up the battery.

Germany have one of the best examples of infrastructure I've seen for HGVs, in their use of eHighways. Utilising OHL infrastructure and pantographs fitted to vehicles. There's got to be other solutions out there, such as Harrogate and Kilmarnock having charging facilities in bus stations. 

(11 Jan 2023, 11:08 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Perhaps an EV upgrade, be it BEV or HEV, would be ideal for the X10. There's less parts to go wrong!

I personally don't see BEV/HEV being an option, because it's prolonging a reliance on fossil fuels. Instead, they'll have to look at other technologies such as hydrogen powered buses, like the deckers that have been introduced in Aberdeen.