Zenobē, the EV fleet and battery storage specialist, today announces an extension of its working relationship with Newport Transport, installing 16 new charging points, made up of eight double-headed chargers, to provide further charging support to its fleet of 32 electric buses. This addition will allow the operator to have all its electric buses on the road at the same time, enable dynamic charging strategies and provide greater charging flexibility for future fleet expansion.

“Scott and the team at Newport Transport were the first to work with us on our battery-on-the-bus-as-a-service and charging service model, when we jointly expanded the impact of their successful grant from the UK government from two to seven vehicles with our then new funded service model. I am delighted to see that intent of partnership expand to a fleet that is over 40 per cent electric, with plans to extend this further – a milestone and an example,” said Steven Meersman, Co-founder and Director of Zenobē.

This builds on an established working relationship between Zenobē and Newport Transport, who initially began working together to bring Wales’s first ever fleet of electric buses into service in 2020. With the total number of electric buses in the fleet at 32 since June this year, but with no means to charge them all at the same time overnight, these further charging points mean all buses can now be on the road at the same time. The electric fleet now makes up 43 per cent of Newport Transport’s overall fleet, the largest ratio of electric to diesel buses in a fleet outside of London.

Zenobē has worked with Newport Transport to build the new charging infrastructure and has upgraded the grid connection at the depot to support the increased energy demand. It also provided financing for the infrastructure, the batteries on the Pelican Yutong vehicles, and any replacement batteries required in the life of the contract. Finally, it has implemented its end-to-end software solution to manage the fleet charging and optimise the resulting power requirements.

“I’m so pleased that this partnership has allowed us to act on our commitment to the environment and sustainable public transport for citizens. We are leading the way in Wales, with our EV fleet improving air quality and CO2 emissions across the city and surrounding areas. We at Newport Transport are excited for further collaboration with the team at Zenobē, as we work towards our vision of a net zero fleet in the near future,” added Scott Pearson, Managing Director at Newport Transport.

With air pollution levels in parts of Newport among the worst in the UK and greatly exceeding international targets, this work is an important contribution to cleaning the city’s air and making it a safer place to live.