Page 18 - Commercial Vehicle Engineer - December 2019

ELECTRIC BUSES IN CHINA
ELECTRIFYING LESSONS FROM CHINA FOR UK FLEET ENGINEERS
Electric buses are becoming more common in the UK, but we still fall far behind the scene in China. So what can UK eet engineers learn from their counterparts in the Far East? By Tim Blakemore
W e’re getting to the point where no
self-respecting local authority in the country would be buying diesel buses. So
says Richard Crump, managing director at Pelican Engineering Group.
You may be tempted to dismiss the comment as just marketing hyperbole from someone with a vested interest in
persuading local authorities and many other bus buyers to switch from diesel to electric. The bus and coach division of Crump’s Yorkshire-based Pelican Engineering Group is after all importer and distributor in the UK and Irish Republic for Yutong electric buses and coaches from China.
But Crump is a respected gure in UK commercial vehicle engineering more widely – the long-established Pelican
Engineering Group includes DAF
and MAN truck dealers, as well as franchises for LDV vans, and small diesel engines from the likes of Kubota, Yanmar and Deutz.
There is far more than simple sales talk to its boss’s recent observation on electri cation. Evidence of what Gareth Powell, managing director of surface transport at Transport for London (TfL) describes as a “complete revolution”
18 DECEMBER 2019 > COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER