15 new electric buses for Gloucestershire
Pulhams, which operates bus and coach services across the Cotswolds, unveiled the new vehicles at its Golden Valley depot in Staverton this month. Its new electric fleet encompasses seven double-decker Wrightbus Electroliners featuring 442kWh battery packs; plus eight single-decker Wrightbus GB Kites, four of which are 11.6m variants with 528 kWh battery packs while the remainder are 10.2m variants with 442kWh battery packs. Pulhams has said that each of the buses was developed and built by Wrightbus at its factory in Ballymena in Northern Ireland.
In total, Pulhams has invested a total of £8.17 million; stating that £6.63m was spent on the buses with the remaining £1.54m going towards charging and infrastructure. Pulhams’ parent company Go-Ahead Group, which acquired Pulhams in 2023, contributed £4.7m to this pot; a further £3.21m came from the Department of Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme while Gloucestershire County Council provided an additional £255,000.
Luke Marion, Managing Director of Pulhams, said: “This is a considerable investment in starting our electrification journey at Pulhams, as we continue to innovate and modernise our fleet and infrastructure. This will significantly improve air quality in the communities we serve and will further help make bus travel an even better option for travelling.”
Besides buses and charging infrastructure, Pulhams also used the investment to fund improvements at its Cheltenham depot. This includes a new bus wash, a new fuelling system, and refurbishments to offices and rest facilities. Marion added: “The investment in our facilities at our Cheltenham site brings it up to the standard we envisioned after acquiring the site from Swanbrook Transport in November 2024.”
The addition of electric buses to the Pulhams fleet follows further expansion for the operator. Last year, it introduced five new executive coaches for tours and private hire on the back of a £1.5m investment. And, since the Go-Ahead Group acquisition, more than 60 vehicles have been added to its fleet – which now has over 150 vehicles.
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