The BYD-ADL partnership is celebrating the delivery of not only one of its largest electric bus orders in London — for 36 vehicles — but also the transformation of the historic and land-locked RATP Dev Shepherd’s Bush garage in West London into an advanced, smart electric bus operating center.

In November 2017 BYD and its UK partner Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) secured the order for the procurement of 36 35-foot BYD ADL Enviro200 EV electric buses along with the installation of 37 charging units and associated charging infrastructure.

With a fleet of some 1,200 buses, RATP Dev London operates 70 bus routes across the London network. Their Shepherd’s Bush depot house the 36 buses for Transport for London routes C1 and 70, which are being converted to full electric operation following the company’s success in winning these routes through TfL’s tendering process.

Preparing Shepherds Bush bus garage for the electric buses involved a further collaboration with BYD and ADL’s strategic partner, SSE, to ensure the installation of the electric vehicle infrastructure. SSE installed vital electric power and data cables and wiring at the garage. BYD’s role included installing BYD’s Smart Charging Management System, which introduced an automatic charging system that allows the bus depot to simultaneously charge all the depot’s buses over night with minimal supervision.

BYD and its partners ensured that this project was completed with minimal interruption to RATP Dev London’s daily operations. RATP Dev aims to progressively turn Shepherd’s Bush into a depot with an all-electric fleet, to make it the company’s first zero-emissions bus garage in London.