The Wright Electrocity was a type of

hybrid electric bus A hybrid electric bus is a bus that combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. These type of buses normally use a Diesel-electric powertrain and are also known as hybrid Diesel-el ...

built by

Wrightbus Wrightbus is a Northern Ireland based bus manufacturer and a pioneer of the low-floor bus. The company was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and was later run by his son William Wright, until it was acquired in 2019 by British businessman ...

between 2002 and 2013. The Electrocity was based on DAF/VDL SB120 chassis for most of these buses, except for a single

Dennis Dart SLF The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor se ...

prototype.

History

Two Electrocity prototypes were initially built in 2002; one based on

DAF SB120 Daf ( fa, دف) also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern (mainly Iranian) frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbe ...

chassis, the other based on a

chassis. The bodywork design was similar to the existing Wright Cadet and Crusader, which were also built on DAF SB120 and Dennis Dart SLF chassis respectively, with the addition of battery pods on the roof of the Electrocity being the main difference. The Electrocity was the first bus of its kind to be built, and the prototypes competed mainly with the TransBus Enviro200H. The Electrocity design was facelifted in 2005 to match the updated Cadet design, with the main noticeable change being rounded front headlights. Following the collapse of

TransBus International Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, E ...

in 2004 and subsequent cancellation of the Enviro200H programme, in February 2006

London Central London Central is a bus company operating in South London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. History London Central commenced operating on 1 April 1989 when London Bus ...

placed six Electrocitys based on

VDL SB120 VDL may refer to: * Vancouver Dodgeball League * Van Diemen's Land, the former name of the smallest Australian state of Tasmania * Van Diemen's Land Company in Tasmania * VDL Groep, Dutch manufacturing company * VDL (radio), a name used by two ...

chassis into service on route 360. Originally equipped with lead-acid batteries and 1.9 litre

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

engines, in 2011 all were rebuilt by Wrightbus with lithium-ion batteries and 4.5 litre Cummins ISBe engines. The hybrid management system was converted from Enova to Siemens.Revised Wrightbus hybrids ready to roll
''Bus & Coach Professional'' 23 August 2011 Externally they received larger white pods on the rear roofs to house the batteries. All subsequent Electrocitys were built on VDL SB120 chassis. In 2007, another five were built for

Travel London Travel London was a bus company operating services in Greater London. It was a subsidiary of National Express before being sold in May 2009 to NedRailways. In October 2009, it was rebranded as Abellio London.

for use on

route 129 The following highways are numbered 129: Canada * Ontario Highway 129 * Prince Edward Island Route 129 Costa Rica * National Route 129 India * National Highway 129 (India) Japan * Japan National Route 129 United States * Interstate 129 * ...

. A single Electrocity was built for London Central in 2008, followed by a batch of six in 2011, to allow for a full conversion of route 360. These were the last buses to be built to the same Wrightbus design philosophy as that introduced with the

Wright Renown The Wright Renown was a low entry single-decker bus body built on Volvo B10BLE chassis by Wrightbus in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Over 800 Renowns were built between 1997 and 2002, making it somewhat more successful than the B10L-based Lib ...

in 1997, fourteen years previously; the similarity in the design of the Renown and the Electrocity, at least on the surface with the body design, is evident. The Electrocity was superseded by the Wright StreetAir in 2016.Wrightbus' new range of electric buses revealed
''Route One'' 5 August 2016

References

External links

Wrightbus Electrocity
Wrightbus {{Wrightbus, state=collapsed Hybrid electric buses Low-entry buses Vehicles introduced in 2002 Electrocity