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The electric buses built by Arrival, the UK-based manufacturer, will be tested on UK roads for the first time later this year in a trial run with transport company First Group.
Testing will begin in the fall of this year, starting with four of the first production vehicles produced at the Arrival research and development center in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Discussions are also underway regarding further trials with other companies.
The tests are the latest step in Arrival’s rapid expansion, which has attracted investments of several hundred million pounds to build exhaust-free battery-powered vans and buses. The company, which has yet to start full production, hopes that by 2024 it will earn around $ 3.1 billion (£ 2.2 billion) in revenue from bus sales, as well. that about $ 10.9 billion from vans.
Arrival is also examining an undisclosed number of new sites for factories in the UK, a sign of its intention to ramp up production as it prepares a reverse listing on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York for a valuation of 5.4. billion dollars (3.9 billion pounds sterling). ). The main activities of the company will remain in the United Kingdom.
Bus companies are rushing to cut carbon emissions to meet clean air regulations in cities. First Group will not buy a diesel bus after 2022 and plans to phase out exhaust emissions by 2035.
First Group is also conducting separate tests of electric buses made by competing manufacturers BYD ADL, Optare and Yutong, as well as a test of hydrogen fuel cell buses in Aberdeen, its hometown.
Arrival hopes to quickly roll out bus production to target major cities around the world. Its goal is to produce 1,000 buses in 2022 and 11,000 in 2024. In addition to an installation in Bicester, also in Oxfordshire, Arrival has started working at a factory in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Arrival, which today employs more than 1,400 people, was founded in secret in 2014 by CEO Denis Sverdlov, a Russian telecoms entrepreneur. The company uses “micro-factories” installations that break with the traditional logic of manufacturing cars on large production lines. Instead of using robots to assemble vehicles in “cells”.
Arrival’s first publicly announced product, an electric van for “last mile” delivery in cities, will also begin testing with United Parcel Service, a US courier service, at the end of February. Last year UPS ordered 10,000 vans worth € 400m (£ 350m).
Avinash Rugoobur, president of Arrival, said integrated tracking, information screens and internet connections could allow buses to better connect with other modes of transport and provide a better user experience. The flat floor also facilitates accessibility.
“We are really at the start of what is possible just within the bus platform,” Rugoobur said. The buses in use today “certainly do the job, but like the pickup truck market, we’re talking about technology that hasn’t evolved into where the world is today.
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The price of electric buses will be similar to existing diesel buses, although Arrival estimates the total cost of ownership will be significantly lower due to lower fuel and maintenance costs. He did not disclose the autonomy of the buses, but Rugoobur said he should be able to handle most urban routes.
Arrival is purchasing its batteries from Korean company LG Chem, but Rugoobur said the company would be happy to source its batteries from a UK-based factory in the future, if it can be successfully launched.
The company is also working on driverless operations for controlled situations such as at company depots, although Rugoobur has warned that driverless buses on the roads are quite remote.
“For driverless buses to become a reality, there needs to be genuine fault-tolerant road autonomy,” he said. Weren’t there. “
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