ELECTRICS WITHOUT ‘UNOBTAINIUM’

Electric vehicles for London and North America form a big part of Alexander Dennis’s immediate plans for new products, but the market leading manufacturer says these are grounded in proven technology rather than science fantasy, as ALAN MILLAR reports

Go-Ahead London EH227 (YX18 KPT), one of the first 65 new generation Enviro400H hybrids with ultra-capacitors in place of batteries.
Colin Robertson, Alexander Dennis CEO.

Alexander Dennis chief executive Colin Robertson has a way with words, delivering memorable sound bites that capture the mood of a moment.

One he has been heard using lately is ‘unobtainium’, his term for a mythical nonpolluting material that optimistic scientists hope will power tomorrow’s buses at a fraction of the price of today’s fossil fuels. Except that the clue is in the name. Whatever this magic element is meant to be, its existence is a myth. It is unobtainable.

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