The race to electrify Europe’s bus fleets was much in evidence at the continent’s biggest exhibition in Brussels in October, where manufacturers offered longer ranges and heroic environmental mission statements. The British presence at this international gathering ranged from a high-capacity tri-axle double-decker to a spacious demand responsive low-floor minibus. ALAN MILLAR reports.


If there was an over-riding theme at this year’s Busworld Europe — the first held in 79,000sqm of the Brussels Expo complex after the continent’s biggest exhibition outgrew its spiritual home in the small Belgian city of Kortrijk — it was the accelerating pace of urban bus electrification.