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Investigateselectric busesBUSES LYING IDLE, waiting for charging infrastructure, staff training and testing.
These are among the various issues reported in recent years about the electric bus rollout, with fleets of buses stalled for many months, and longer in some cases.
After several readers contacted us about these problems, The Journal Investigates put them to the National Transport Authority (NTA).
In a 17-page briefing note provided to our team, the State body detailed the numerous “teething problems” that have arisen over the past two years.
These issues are “potentially impactful”, according to the NTA, who said: “That is why the ongoing work by NTA, the transport operators, the bus manufacturers and other suppliers in addressing and resolving them is so important”.
The main problem reported to date was delays in charging infrastructure, with none being installed prior to the purchase of the electric buses.
The Irish Independent reported that this resulted in more than 130 new electric buses lying idle in bus depots across Dublin back in July 2023.
The NTA told us that planning for electrification of Dublin Bus depots began in 2019 but delays occurred as two seperate tender competitions had to be cancelled.
This “caused a consequential delay in the electrification of bus depots within the Dublin Metropolitan Area and the rollout of battery-electric bus fleet”.
There are now 136 high-power charging guns installed within the Dublin region. The NTA also said that it used “a contractor framework” which “will deliver a further 100 charging guns” on top of those currently available in Dublin depots.
The Journal Investigates can also reveal that these charging delays were not the only problems encountered with the rollout. The single-deck and double-deck battery-electric buses themselves had a lot of “teething issues”.
The NTA said that “some of the teething issues experienced have resulted in the battery-electric buses being out of service for periods of time”, but added:
“As part of the mitigation of potential risks associated with the introduction of the new battery-electric bus fleet, the NTA ensured that there were sufficient spare buses available from the existing bus fleet to meet the timetabled service requirements.”
Following numerous emails from readers, The Journal Investigates asked the NTA for detailed records on the battery-electric bus fleet through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
This request was initially refused and our team appealed this decision. Following this, the NTA prepared and sent an extensive briefing document to us in relation to the new bus fleet.
This details the planned and complete electrification of the bus fleet in locations across the country, and importantly the issues encountered to date.
From it, it is clear that though charging infrastructure was planned since 2019, it was plagued by issues with tender competitions, resulting in significant delays. These were reported in various media outlets, as new buses were stalled waiting to hit the capital’s streets.
The initial procurement competition for Dublin Bus depots — launched in 2021 — was cancelled “due to the tenders being non-compliant with the rules of the tender competition”, the NTA said.
This resulted “in a delay to the planned rollout of charging equipment”. Since then, a revised tender competition was launched and charging infrastructure was commissioned towards the end of 2023.
“There are now 56 charging guns and associated infrastructure installed at Summerhill bus depot, with a further 80 charging guns installed at Phibsboro bus depot.
“A total of 136 high-power charging guns are therefore currently available to support the operation of battery-electric buses within the Dublin region.”
The briefing note also details problems with a tender to install chargers in two further Dublin Bus depots at Harristown and Ringsend.
This was initiated in 2022 but the “competition had to be cancelled in November 2023 as it was not possible for [Dublin Bus] to conclude a contract with the selected tenderer”. The NTA said:
“The necessary cancellations by [Dublin Bus] of two tender competitions for the installation of charging equipment has caused a consequential delay in the electrification of bus depots within the Dublin Metropolitan Area and the rollout of battery-electric bus fleet.”
To mitigate this, the NTA used its “contractor framework” to install charging equipment in the Harristown depot, in collaboration with Dublin Bus. In addition, Dublin Bus “negotiated the provision of an extra 20 charging guns at Phibsboro bus depot”.
“Taken together, these plans will deliver a further 100 charging guns on top of the 136 guns currently available in the Dublin depots,” the NTA added.
The problems identified by readers were not only related to charging infrastructure but the electric buses themselves.
The NTA listed 12 such “teething issues” for single-deck and 18 for double-deck buses. Not all of these were because the buses were battery-electric, but 2 issues for single-deck buses and 5 for double-deck were directly related to this.
Sensor failures in heating and ventilation systems, insufficient heating, charging issues and corrosion of certain parts are among the issues identified that directly relate to the fact that the buses are battery-electric.
Other issues have also been identified that are not exclusive to battery-electric buses, including rollback while coming to a stop or moving slowly on extreme gradients, parking brake warning not sounding, wheel hub and alignment issues and parts being damaged or requiring renewal more frequently.
The issues relating to the buses “are being dealt with under the normal warranty clauses of the bus supply contracts”, the NTA said. “This means that there have been no direct costs borne by the NTA in addressing these issues.”
It is clear from the issues detailed that drivers and passengers have been busy reporting problems they have encountered.
One example is an atypical brake pedal response reported in double-deck buses.
Bus Éireann reported that “that the ‘feel’ of the braking system (i.e. the response of the bus in response to depression of the brake pedal) is different on certain buses”. This is being investigated and trial software has been installed on three buses in Limerick.
Another is “insufficient heating” in the driving cab and passenger saloon of single-deck buses. Both drivers and passengers have reported that the heating and ventilation system is not heating the interior of the bus to the same extent as they would be accustomed to on a diesel-only bus.
The NTA said that this system “is designed to minimise energy consumption in order to maximise the range of the bus”, but this issue has been reported and is being investigated by the system’s supplier.
Passengers also felt cold in new double-deck buses which have a heat-pump thermal management system, according to the NTA. This is currently under investigation, with a focus on the control software, including the intuitiveness of the driver controls.
Other rollouts have been more successful. The Athlone bus service became Ireland’s first 100% zero-emission town bus service in January 2023.
The local depot operates 11 single-deck battery-electric buses and has nine charging stations equipped with 18 charging guns. The NTA said:
“In the two years since the buses entered service, they have driven more than one million zero-emission kilometres, resulting in a substantial reduction in the emission of CO2 and other pollutants along the routes they have traversed.”
The NTA said that feedback has been “very positive” and the introduction of the new buses “has contributed in no small way to the significant increase in passengers”.
The State body is “keen to build on this success by introducing further battery-electric buses on other town bus services in Ireland”.
This success is likely due to the fact that these type of buses were trialed and tested by other countries. The NTA told us that the single-deck buses “benefitted from several years of hard-won operational experience in London and elsewhere”.
The rollout of the double-deck buses received “more nuanced” driver feedback, though it was “positive overall”, the NTA said. “Passenger feedback has also been mainly positive.”
In terms of charging infrastructure, there was some “teething issues” in Limerick, but “these have been less pronounced than Dublin”, the NTA said.
The first-phase of electrification of Limerick city’s bus service included the installation of 30 high-power charging guns in the Roxboro bus depot. The second phase “is nearing completion”, with a further 40 charging guns.
This “will enable all Limerick city bus services provided by [Bus Éireann] to be operated by zero-emission double-deck battery-electric buses”, the NTA said.
There are also plans in place for the installation of 70 charging guns in Bus Éireann’s Galway depot. Once in place, these will enable all of Bus Éireann’s Galway city’s bus services to be operated by battery-electric buses.
Further electrification of bus depots in Dublin, Cork, Sligo and elsewhere is also planned.
Maria Delaney is the editor of The Journal Investigates. Is there an issue, local or national, that you feel needs to be investigated? Contact our team here >>
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So was there any testing, you know, an old test drive like of these buses before they spent a fortune of tax payers money on them, it took the passengers and the drivers to identify these problems.
They can’t have seriously just rolled them out without testing and then creating a snag list of issues to address before they were deemed fit for purpose and sent into the public domain.
Got your picture in the paper though didn’t you Eamonn you gowl…
@damien leen: I’m afraid if these geniuses can go out and buy the things while not having anywhere to charge them then the question of did they not test them is a little redundant. I would suggest that Eamon Ryan had a chicken and egg moment in between naps and decided to buy the eggs and hope the chicken would follow. There was a rumour that it was the intention in the interim to use deisel generators for power but the lid was blown off that idea. Only a rumour mind.
@Adam H2022: €750,000 for a double decker, €315,000 for a single decker.
@Adam H2022: “I believe …”. Good man.
@Gavin Smartr: sure didn’t they buy a train years ago only to discover it’s track guage didn’t match ours.
@Adam H2022: 360 million to be precise that’s what sleepy eamo allocated to dublin bus for buses. instalation of chargers and maintenance.SO that’s how the tax payers money was wasted on another government fook up
@P. V. Aglue: that’s the NTA for you
@Adam H2022:
@Adam H2022: I think they were 800k each.
EVs not fit for purpose. An post can’t keep their drivers warm in the winter, cool in the sunshine or even complete a post round in their EVs. They return to the depot with just enough power to spare and then complete their round in their own trusted and practical combustion engine vehicle. Be warned, If they succeed in getting everyone in an ev your electric bill will multiply so much you will pray for what we’re charged for electric now.
The people that Purchased these Busses should be held Accountable, would they buy an EV for themselves without having the infrastructure in place. Furthermore we’re not the first Country to buy Electric Busses, so all these teething problems should have already been sorted out by the Manufacturer. Typical Ireland No Accountability, just a fortune spent in enquiries after the event, and nothing learnt.
So typically Irish getting everything arse about front !
We took in war refugees without having proper accommodation in place !
We purchased EV buses without correct facilities to operate them !
We build new hospital that keeps escalating in costs and it’s still not ready !
We bought electronic voting machines that are useless and we are paying rent for storage !
The list is endless-
We we ever learn
@Adam H2022: scary thing is all this was common knowledge before the election and we voted for more. Sure we love it. We bring our own vasaline to the party.
@Adam H2022: Woke has nothing to do with this, that is if you actually know the real meaning of Woke. Which I seriously doubt.
@Gavin Smartr: It was, but then you look at the left wing opposition and realise it could actually be made far worse. Imagine the damage Labour or SDs would do. There is no commonsense right/centre right party in the country, and the right wingers who did run were too extreme. There is a huge gap in the market for a PD like party, but the existing parties have funding tied up to make it very hard to compete.
@Mike Ryan: Woke ideology running far ahead of existing technology!
@Adam H2022: It’s about their career ambitions with all the Autism Spectrum Disorder Careerists in the Dail. Just look at what Varadkar did. Obviously didn’t give a toss about public service. It was all just a stepping stone on his career path. What use would he be as some kind of mediator at Penta? Didn’t he have a reputation for bitchy gaffs and remarks?( as expected). He’s no Scott Bessent. No where near that league. This NTA shower are exactly the same. They come and go from such organisations in their “pretend to work” consultant roles until they get the golden handshakes they were looking for leaving a trail of wasted taxpayers funds behind them. They just laugh at all the stupid, irrelevant, working class Irish who just seem to keep taking all this like a chump.
@Gavin Smartr: we didn’t though. Fg FF didn’t even get a combined majority in 2020. Thanks to the levels of people disenfranchised and so staying at home, if they weren’t anyway on gen election days Fg FF get empowered to continue their fingers up to our democracy
@Mike Ryan: I’m not sure I would equate taking in people fleeing from war with installing bus chargers. Lol.
@Gary Kearney: DEI policies in the civil service have been introduced for a long time .All the Principal officiers in the taoiseach dept are women.Many women pushed up the ladder regardless of experience.Maybe this is a factor in why infrastructure is slow.
Hybrid a much better option. Where I live they are widespread. They are quiet and provided the driver is mint a boy racer they are efficient. The silent issue with the buses Dublin bus has bought is the intense damage they will do the roads. Double decker buses are a relic of the British empire. They are already heavy and destroy roads. The extra tonne of battery will add more damage and make the ride feel like an even bigger bone shaking experience. I also suspect the cost of tyres will be eye watering.
No such thing as a Zero Emission vehicle. University of Southampton have tested and reported that certain types of brake pad produce dust that are in fact more toxic than diesel particulate matter. Also tire wear produces microscopic particles too.
Would have been easier to list what went right wheres eamon Ryan enjoying his ministerial pension with Trevor sergeant and John gormley and the country still a mess
Eamon wanted electric busses, he got electric busses. The batteries just don’t hold enough power to operate the bus and provide heat for a day’s work. Maybe they can have paraffin heaters retrofitted or go green and burn waste oil for the rest of the fleet for heat.
For transport you can’t beat a petrol or diesel car.
Can they not buy big portable diesel generators to charge them
Embarrassing stuff for all involved here. We’re going nowhere with whoever is running these organisations.
Teething problems, I would say more like major problems that’s the problem in Ireland we can never get anything right. The government are not fit for purpose. They don’t know their backside from the elbows.
They just constantly spend extortionate amounts of taxpayers money and the majority goes to waste it’s about time Ireland woke up and the man that our money to be spent properly after all it’s taxpayers money without it things would be a lot different
The NTA are liars, if the journal wants to know the truth then they should interview drivers & mechanics. Everything the NTA has stated in this piece is a fabrication.
@Matt D: No fear of the journal doing a fact-check article on stuff like this. But they are OK giving Conor McGregor more publicity than he got from his interview by posting condemnation that he was given any publicity.
Reminds me of the E-Voting machines , a total farce and a fook up too listening to the cabbage head who was only looking for photo opportunities promoting failure like the Greedy Green Party are. All they know how to do is increase taxation on everything.
The Wright Electric bus is simply a poor vehicle like most of the buses are. They have a history of making lemons
@Gary Kearney: same old same old nothing changed we are so backwards
@Alan Moloney: there are great vehicles out there and we have some. When bus people picked what was bought.
This is Ryan’s legacy
Shouldn’t that be battrifacation
One simple piece of advice would be to install the chargers before you buy the buses.
It’s incredible awful Go ahead and slightly more efficient Dublin bus don’t review the way drivers are putting the heating on in late spring or summer. While we are on the subject. I’m not talking about this weeks chilly, soaking weather I’ve gotten on in summer or early September and sat at the back where you can’t sit comfortably because the driver has the heating on
@S Suilleabhain: the problem with a lot of the vehicles is this. The heat is off or full on.
@S Suilleabhain: The driver actually doesn’t have reliable control over the heating on many bus types with DB. The heating systems on these buses are a cheap basic system which usually malfunctions within a few months after the bus comes down from Wrong bus. The controls may be set by the driver to blow cool outside air but it can be still blow warm instead. DB even ordered SG type buses with demisters which couldn’t be turned off and blew warm air and outside fumes onto the driver all year long suffocating them in warm weather. The back of the bus tends to get warm from heat leaking in from the engine. Maybe don’t sit there. It’s not the drivers fault the buses are unreliable junk. Blame the worker though; that’s exactly the way DB management and the NTA want it.
@Gary Kearney: yes.
@Darren Rowan: ah, ta for the information so Darren.
This is bad….
Any update on the hydrogen busses they bought?
I imagine that is an even worse abuse of the taxpayer?
Ryan’s lunatic legacy ..this man set the country back 20 years in terms of Infrastructure in pursuit of his bicycle nirvana…
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