Travel

Sustainability: giving old electric coach batteries a second life

A year ago at Evan Evans, we unveiled the UK’s first fully electric zero-emission coach for our guests to see iconic British sites with a reduced footprint on select day tours from London. Last April, we acquired our second fully electric coach while launching our ABBA Voyage Express Concert Packages.

Giving the old electric coach batteries a second life is one of the initiatives we and our family of brands collectively implemented as part of our sustainability strategy, How We Tread Right. The company behind this process? Zenobē, which we tell you more about in this article.

How it works?

Zenobē is an EV fleet and battery storage specialist, installing battery storage to support the uptake of renewable power on the grid and help fleet operators (like Airsym, our fully electric coach provider) switch to electric with an end-to-end offering including vehicle finance, design and build of infrastructure, battery management and operational support.

They provide their customers with a battery-managed service to mitigate battery risk. As part of this service, Zenobē:

  • Guarantee battery capacity to meet the route needs
  • Provide reporting on battery data
  • Cover the cost of replacing the initial electric coach battery (like an extended battery warranty)

The company works with operators to manage the battery’s health through its first life, meaning it can repurpose them in second-life applications. Knowing how the batteries have been handled means they are experts at repurposing modules in a second life.

Why choose refurbished batteries?

Second-life batteries represent a considerable step forward in sustainable energy storage solutions, and there are endless benefits to choosing such a service. By doing this, as a tour operator, we contribute to leading the transition to net zero and creating a cleaner, more sustainable future for energy storage.

Most importantly, it helps us positively impact the environment by reducing our emissions while operating our coach tours, which helps advance our climate action goals and decarbonise our business and trips.