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Blackburn Private Hire (Lancashire) have reached the BBC news desk with their 'second hand' electric buses.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c789qdg3z5do

The electric buses are being used between Highercroft and Blackburn city centre - but only while their batteries have sufficient charge because Mr Critchley said there were no charging points on the route

'The battery only lasts at the moment until mid-afternoon and then we have to bring it off-service and put a diesel back on'.
'But we're hoping to get chargers put into town, which should hopefully last all day'.

Perhaps they should have done things the other way round - put the chargers in first maybe?

It would be interesting to know how old these 'second-hand' electric buses are, how many miles they've already done, and of course how much was paid for them.

And of course most interesting to know would be why their previous operator sold them on!

A brand new electric bus should last most of the day on a full charge. Battery life will degrade over time though.

Presumably e200mmcs?

Who says they have to be E200s?

No necessarily,  any E200 with a euro 6 exhaust will suit

Slight correction there Tony, any Euro6 bus will suit!

It seems to me that the MCV Evora is becoming quite popular with smaller operators.

It must be a Birmingham thing as The 82/87, 8/X8 and 529 are all still branded along with for now the 9, X10 and 50. The 529 Buses are mostly used on the 529 and even if they are used on the 8 or X8 or 79 or the 1 or other routes they usually Don't confuse people

Again, it will happen over time, it's not a five-minute job and all brandings won't just disappear overnight.

Not seen any 35 route branding been thought of yet and the buses used on that are over 17 years old, might be the next ones that will be debranded maybe?

I expect in the coming months that the 35 and 50 brandings will be removed from those vehicles, again so they can be used regularly on all routes at YW (barring the 27 obviously). I'd also anticipate that the older electrics will have their Stratford Road (not 6) branding removed as well.

Any updates?

Surely you can answer your own question by looking at this topic and seeing that nobody has posted anything?

Come on, please have a little patience!

How come some of the sn67wx and sn67wy fleet are de branded.
I even saw sn67wxl get recovered without any branding

One logical reason is so they can be used on any other route. I recall one reason given for the X1/X2 branding being removed was because those vehicles were racking up a lot of mileage compared to others of the same age. By rotating the fleet like this, it keeps things 'balanced'.

I guess you can't keep everyone happy - there are those that complain when branded vehicles appear on other routes, then others complain when the branding gets removed so they can go on other routes!

With the X21/22, 23/24 brands' being the only branded buses at BC aswell as a common occurrence on the X12/13 and 97/A it makes sense.
 
Factoring in BC is planned to close. With both an east and south replacement garage, bound to be electric ready. The X21 etc brand vehicles may not even go to either of these garages for long, if at all.

I still think any replacement of BC garage is another couple of years off, and if they are both electric-ready, it takes time to get new buses ordered and built.

Fair enough but didn't the original post say the 3 was going to UHCW? That's what got me thinking about this

The registration still shows 'University Hospital' as the destination, but it hasn't gone there for some time.

It's Midland Metro, look how long it took them to do the Wolverhampton extension. Give them another 5 years - HS2 might be done before them.

(The website doesn't have an ETA)

I doubt there's any rush. We won't be seeing trams down there for a long, long time yet.

The stop at the Clayton Hotel is expected to be operational 2025/2026.

In 2023, Transport for West Midlands announced plans for an additional temporary terminus near the Clayton Hotel which will allow the tramway to enter operational service earlier (currently proposed for 2025/2026).

https://metroalliance.co.uk/projects/birmingham-eastside-extension/

If that's a bus lane where are the cars supposed to go

So it's OK for them to drive into oncoming traffic?

It's a good question, I think they meant where should the 'general traffic' be being routed away from this bus lane.

I will have to go and investigate for myself; I assume traffic should be going via Alcester Street onto Bradford Street.

Wolverhampton have never had any B7's and unless Double Deckers have appeared On the 39 then only the 79 went down the Stafford Road and that used Tridents. You can't even track the Trainers on Bustimes

Wolverhampton have loads of "B7s", albeit in the form of Wright Eclipses on B7RLE chassis.

Unfortunately the amount of illegal street racing doesn't help either

Those cars aren't street racing though

That's just ignoring the new road layout - it's been a few weeks since I last travelled into the city and I don't remember that bus lane being there. Unfortunately it only takes one idiot trying to be clever for other unwitting motorists to just follow them and do the same!

The attached photo of stupid driving might explain the number of vehicles involved in RTCs. 5 vehicles driving on the wrong side of the road in Digbeth

Is that Digbeth? That bus lane looks new, those cars are all on the wrong side of the road?

Out of the 301 electrics currently allocated to garages none are currently defective!

Only vehicles not available for service this afternoon are
CV - E020; E062 (both due to RTC)
YW - E012; E252 (both due to RTC)
PB - E301 (waiting radio fitting); E171 (broken window - vandalism); E165; E221; E285; E331 (RTC damage)

Ah, I was wondering why E012 hadn't been out for a while!

It might seem an insignificant number in the grand scheme of things, but still 8 new buses out of action due to RTCs seems a lot. But not surprising judging by the standard of driving nowadays. (And before anyone jumps on me I'm not talking about bus drivers!)

Good job you did it while you still could

https://www.facebook.com/groups/112044982303402/permalink/2878327945675078/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

It's only a temporary arrangement, as long as it doesn't extend beyond Friday 22nd!

I assume a few Class 158 units are out of action for maintenance and repairs following the accident the other week caused by an apparent failed sanding unit:
https://wmbusphotos.com/forum/index.php?msg=336281

theyre actually going to do it ?
blimey ill hang the bunting up then

Probably not until next year though, so I'd hold off on the bunting for now.