Dwight School London has become the first independent school in the United Kingdom to adopt a new electric bus service for its students. Dwight School London has partnered with smart bus service platform Zeelo. AirSym has been contracted by Zeelo to operate one of three services provided for Dwight School London.
Sam Ryan, CEO of Zeelo, says, “Offsetting carbon emissions goes some way towards helping us meet our sustainability targets but does not resolve the issue of air quality around schools and educational campuses. We’re delighted to support Dwight School London with their CO2 reduction plans by enabling the transition of their school transport services from diesel to electric vehicles and helping pave the way for all our education customers to switch to a net-zero transport service.”
Chris Beddows, Head of School, Dwight School London, says, “We place innovation and sustainability at the heart of our school’s mission, vision and values. We are thrilled and immensely proud to be the first school in the whole of the United Kingdom to add this electric vehicle to our fleet of school buses and our whole community is excited by this new initiative.”
Zeelo hs already been providing smart bus transportation services for Dwight School London since 2021. Zeelo says they have been running efficient, safe, and reliable home-to-school transport across three unique routes. In fact, Dwight School London, through its partnership with Zeelo, has already seen nearly 12,000 car journeys taken off the road in the last year, amounting to 26 tonnes of CO2 emissions removed from the atmosphere since the original service launched in September 2021. That is the equivalent of planting more than 1200 trees, says Zeelo
Zeelo’s announcement adds:
“By switching to Zeelo’s EV route, Dwight School London will stand to offset an additional 26.45 cubic tonnes of CO2 annually, benefiting both the local community and the environment by enhancing the air quality in the area around the school and the nearby towns where students are being picked up and dropped off each day. According to 2019 government statistics, it is four times more likely for children in London to attend school in an area where the World Health Organisation’s recommended level of pollution is exceeded. In fact, 28 of the top 30 local authorities for school air pollution are located within the Greater London area.
“The new route will take the place of an existing one, and the hope is that it will also entice new parents to switch to Dwight School London’s new electric transportation service from regular school runs in their fuel-guzzling cars. The current service supports daily school journeys of around 50 students who live in North London.”
The electric bus is the Yutong TCe12. It carries up to 50 passengers. Zenobē, an EV fleet and battery storage specialist, has a partnership with AirSym to launch Yutong TCe12 electric coaches as part of its services. AirSym is also a transport provider for airlines, airports, and ground handling companies.
AirSym also caters for large movements, such as:
- Film premieres
- Conferences
- Corporate events
- Sporting events
- Music and film venues
Here are some specs of the Yutong TCe12:
- Electric motor – Max power 350 kW. Max Torque 3,200 Nm The motor is water cooled with its own radiator.
- 281kWh LFP water-cooled battery pack (Made by CATL). There is also an option of a 350kWh battery.
- The TCe12 can be supplied with a 60kW or 120kW DC charger, making a full charge possible in about two hours.
Zeelo has already committed to a zero-emissions fleet in the UK and developed countries by 2030 and in emerging markets by 2035. Zeelo’s operations currently serve over 1.8 million daily commuters in the UK, North America, and South Africa. A strategic alignment with Climate Partner already offsets 3.5 kg of CO2 emissions per trip (12,000 tonnes annually) by planting trees in Uganda and constructing wind farms in Bulgaria. Zeelo says this has enabled it to become the only bus transportation service in Europe that is already entirely carbon neutral.
Image from Zeelo.
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Source: Clean Technica