First Bus completes work on Caledonia depot in Glasgow's Southside

Scottish Transport Minister, Jenny Gilruth, visited the site today to celebrate the completion of works and spoke of what this means for the future of the industry.

Pictured: Duncan Cameron, MD for First Bus Scotland (L), Minister for Transport, Jenny Gilruth (R)

She said: “I am delighted to visit the depot to see the scale of what is now the largest D.C. charging centre in UK, which has been made possible by £26.3 million of Scottish Government investment.

"This really is a gamer changer in our progress towards decarbonising Scotland’s buses."

The Caledonia depot is located in the city's Southside with an impressive 160 rapid charging points that have been installed in the last nine months.

As well as helping First Bus achieve its goal of becoming emission-free by 2035, the depot will also allow other organisation to decarbonise their own fleets.

Duncan Cameron, Managing Director at First Bus Scotland, said: “We are thrilled to announce the completion of our Caledonia depot.

"This inspiring project has seen the depot transformed into one of the biggest EV rapid charging hubs of its kind anywhere.

“To deliver a project of this scale is a magnificent achievement for all the teams involved. It’s a landmark moment in our journey to completely overhaul our service for the good of the environment.

“We’re proud to be able to open up the possibility for more Glasgow companies to realise their own paths to zero emissions, too.

"With the great range our new EVs, and the immense power of these new charging stations, our buses only need to stop to be charged overnight, enabling us to free up the depot during the day for other electric fleets in and around Glasgow”.

Pictured: The Caledonia Depot in Glasgow's Southside

First Bus is now looking to expand the depot further by partnering with Ofgem and Scottish Power Energy Networks to install an extra 200 charging points.

For more information on First Bus click here.