While I was in the Arnison Centre today, I spotted the U11DD on it's way to Durham, so I cancelled my plans for the rest of the day (sitting in Spoons) and waited for it to come back on it's way north to give it a try.

The ride is a bit fidgety, but over the bigger bumps is rather smooth. For example, over the bump pulling into the 21 stand at CLS there's less of a jolt than in the Streetdecks or B5s, and on the speed bumps in Low Fell it didn't feel like my back was about to break. I feel like the 67 plate Streetdeck I had on my journey back was a smoother ride overall, but it was close. While I obviously haven't tried them back to back, from memory alone a 20 plate Streetdeck or E400 is better.

The cabin feels spacious and bright, the ambient lighting is quite nice although I wouldn't have picked orange. There was weird LED light under the windscreen upstairs pointing straight back, quite blinding when you're looking forward! 

Overall, it looks very ADL inside (design wise and with the shiny plastics), but feels much better built. Although there seemed to be a fair bit of flex in the wall cladding when I pushed against it with my knee.

Being electric, it is quiet, but there is a bit of wind noise coming from the windows upstairs when they're open.

Interestingly, it lacks a 'stopping' light upstairs, and the bell sounds like a door bell rather than the usual ding. I did quite like the light around the button that lights up when you push it, it's a nice touch.

The seats on the demo are alright, more comfortable than the Enviros despite less padding (probably better for it since they're firmer), and the hospital spec vinyl is much better than the arse sweat absorbing moquette GNE moved to with the last batch of orders. 

The power delivery feels weird, it feels as if there's a 2 speed gearbox, or there's a sort of 'turbo lag' built into the torque curve. Soft acceleration to start with, then there's a noticeable increase in power. Although it could just be the driver feathering the accelerator to make it smoother?


When I got off at Gateshead, I had a quick look at the dash and it indicated 85 miles range remaining (couldn't figure out where the battery percentage was on the display). A quick check on bus times suggests the bus had done about 135 miles. If we assume it left with a full charge in the morning, and the remaining range is correct (it never is, on our Leaf and Zoe there's a good 10 miles left once it reaches zero), that gives a range of around 220 miles, and (if my maths is correct) an average efficiency of 0.55mi/kWh. That seems to be on part with the official figures for the E400EV and better than the Streetdeck Electroliner.