London will enter into service the world’s first all-electric double-decker bus later this year, according to the English capital’s mayor.

Mayor Boris Johnson made the announcement as he hosted international representatives and major bus manufacturers at the first ever global Clean Bus Summit.

The zero-emission bus, manufactured by BYB, will enter service on London’s route 16 from October 2015.

Since 2008 the Mayor has rolled out more than 1 300 hybrid electric buses, retrofitted more than 1 400 buses to reduce their emissions by up to 88 per cent and developed the New Routemaster, one of the cleanest double-decker buses of its type in the world.
There will be 800 New Routemasters on London’s streets by 2016 and they will reduce CO2 emissions in the capital by around 27 500 tonnes a year.
Johnson has committed that by 2020 all 300 single-deck buses in central London will be zero-emission. Furthermore, all 3 300 double deck buses in central London will be Euro VI electric hybrid, with the exception of a small number of Euro V Routemasters which nearly meet the Euro VI standard thanks to their superior design.
*Image: PRNewsFoto/BYD Company Ltd