The vehicle has a range of 150km, which is the equivalent of six loops of the bus operator’s ‘Yellow’ route. It takes four and a half hours to fully charge the battery, providing 11.5 hours’ worth of use.

London’s Deputy Mayor for Environment & Energy, Shirley Rodrigues welcomed the new electric bus and said the capital is making great strides to reduce emissions associated with public road transport. “Air quality in London is toxic; we have hundreds of schools in illegally polluted areas, so there is a moral responsibility for us to act,” she said.

“London has 60 electric double decker buses on order which will be coming next year and no more diesel buses are being procured in the capital,” she added.

Also this week, the freight forwarder UPS has said that many fleet operators face challenges in electrifying their vehicles. In a new report it says that 92% of businesses it spoke to say their facilities are not very well equipped to accommodate commercial charging.

More than half say the purchase price of electric vehicles is the top barrier to buying them, but less than half of those surveyed are working with governments or utility companies to address problems with charging infrastructure.