We’re immensely proud of our Engineering Team who are responsible for the maintenance and safety of our fleet of more than 850 vehicles ranging from full-electric double deckers to Euro VI tour buses, executive coaches and more. Every bus in active service undergoes the equivalent of a full MOT every 28 days, helping teams to identify faults before they become bigger issues and to ensure the reliability and stability of our vehicles.
Euro VI – what does this mean?
Our fleet is 100% Euro VI compliant.
Since 1992, new vehicles have to meet a certain Euro emissions standard when they are made, as part of the global challenge to improve air quality. Euro 6 is the sixth and latest directive set by the European Union to help reduce the level of harmful pollutants produced by new vehicles.
The Euro VI standard sets out the acceptable limits for these exhaust emissions, and since September 2015, all new vehicles sold have had to comply with the Euro VI standard.
The Euro VI standard is having a positive effect on emission levels on our roads, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) stating: “It would take 50 new cars today to produce the same amount of pollutant emissions as one vehicle built in the 1970s.”
To mark Clean Air Day in 2021, we took a look behind-the-scenes at emissions testing to show how a 1949 Daimler CVG6 compared with a 2021 Enviro400 XLB (Euro VI). Watch below!
Retrofitting vehicles
Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone aims to improve air quality for people across the city by tackling air pollution from vehicles and have been developed in partnership with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and Transport Scotland. It aligns with other strategic transport projects, including the City Centre Transformation and City Mobility Plan.
Only the cleanest vehicles can travel into a Low Emission Zone, with penalty charges applying to those that don’t meet the required standards. A boundary for the LEZ has been determined and plans were finalised in 2022.
In order to comply with Low Emission Zones (LEZs), Lothian uses retrofitting technology to reduce diesel emissions. Retrofitting allows for the exhaust systems of mid-life buses and coaches to be upgraded to the standards to drive within LEZs. The exhaust retrofit systems are accredited by Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS) to improve emissions to the latest Euro VI standard or better.
As our fleet is entirely Euro VI well ahead of the proposed date of the LEZ coming into force, there should be no restrictions applied to our vehicles and cross city routes should be unaffected.