Sunday, 22 November 2020

17 More Metrodecker EV's for GoAhead London

Optare have announced that GoAhead London have placed an order for 17 Metrodecker EV’s for route 200 in London. This route will operate out of the company’s Merton garage, the first electric route from this depot. This order marks the 3rd order for the Metrodecker EV in London, the 5th to date, which will bring the total number in service to 108 by May 2021. 





Optare has worked closely with GoAhead London over a number of years in the development of its latest generation of battery electric buses. The Metrodecker EV prototype first saw service in the Capital with GoAhead London on a 5 month trial at New Cross on route 36 and route 21 in January 2018. 
During this trial, a lot was learnt about the bus and the zero emission heating systems in particular as the trial took place during the 'the Beast from the East' extreme cold spell; . GoAhead’s trial feedback played a key part in the final design of the production bus launched at the NEC in October 2018. 




Richard Harrington, Engineering Director, Go Ahead London commented: “As an EV leader in London we have built a good understanding of zero emission bus operation. We were pleased to provide feedback & guidance to Optare during their development process and we have been impressed with the production Metrodecker EV in recent service trials. 
The bus is a good fit for Route 200. We look forward to successful roll out and partnership with Optare.”

Robert Drewery, Commercial Director, Optare stated: “We are thrilled to be involved in the electrification of route 200. We see this order as another step in our cooperation with GoAhead London and the development of our ZEV solutions”.