Gregory Group has partnered with Stagecoach to use rapid-charging infrastructure at Stagecoach’s Inverness depot for electric HGV operations between Bathgate and Inverness.
The arrangement supports a Pollock route running from Bathgate, near Glasgow, to Inverness. Reported return journeys on the route exceed 320 miles, with the Inverness charging stop intended to allow the trucks to recharge before beginning their return journey.
Four Gregory HGVs are reported to use the depot every day of the week. Stagecoach is said to schedule charger access around Gregory’s delivery timetable, allowing the commercial vehicles to use infrastructure at a site where buses are also operating.
The arrangement forms part of Stagecoach’s Chargd proposition. The scheme offers business fleets access to high-powered charging at selected bus depots, and Stagecoach says it is intended for larger electric HGV and van fleets.
Stagecoach confirmed in July that Inverness was one of six live Chargd depots. The other sites it named were Cambridge, Oxford, Stockton, Ash Grove in London and Dover. Stagecoach says its depot locations can have up to 100 ultra-rapid charging stations for fleet use.
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Gregory reported emissions reductions of 484.5393 tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent from the project. The company also said equivalent diesel operation would have produced 96% more emissions.
The project illustrates the difficulty of finding charging locations suitable for articulated electric trucks on longer routes, particularly in northern Scotland. In this case, access to the Inverness depot is being used to support a route with a reported return distance of more than 320 miles.
The parties are reported to be considering whether to extend their collaboration to other regions, but no additional locations or timetable have been confirmed.
This is a commercial charging arrangement rather than a regulatory scheme or legal proceeding. The reported operation shows how bus-depot infrastructure can be used by other fleet operators when access is coordinated around existing depot activity.
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