Following a pledge by the UK government to create Britain’s first ‘all-electric bus towns’, automotive engineering, testing and R&D consultancy, Horiba MIRA Ltd, is advising operators to consider converting their existing bus fleets from diesel powered units to electric drive systems as a way to helping the UK to achieve a cleaner public transport network.

New Flyer Industries Canada ULC announced the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium and Brampton Transit have jointly secured CD11.15m in federal funding from Natural Resources Canada to support the adoption of zero-emission transit buses.

The California Energy Commission has announced qualifying buses passing its Technical Evaluation phase, can now be ordered through the Clean Transportation Programme’s Grant, GFO-18-604.

Electric commercial vehicle and mobility specialist start up, Workhorse Group Inc says it has raised USD25m through a private offering of Series B preferred non-convertible stock (but the holders are entitled to annual dividends payable in shares of common stock) with a group of institutional investors.

The European Commission (EC - the executive body of the European Union) together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) have launched the CEF Transport Blending Facility, a new financial instrument to support projects contributing to the environmental sustainability and efficiency of the transport sector in Europe.

Violeta Bulc, the EU Commissioner for Transport and Vazil Hudák, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank launched the “Safer Transport Platform” at a conference in Bucharest last month.

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for the implementation of phase II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles with a fund allocation of USD1.54bn over the next three years, with effect from April 1, 2019.

The UK Government has announced further funding of GBP48m for assisting acquisition of up to 263 ultra-low emission buses.

Funded by the Scottish Government and delivered through a government body called the Energy Saving Trust, the Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit scheme enables Scottish bus operators to retrofit their existing vehicles with accredited emission control equipment under the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme, to reduce harmful emission levels from existing vehicles.