A Silent Revolution: Scotland’s Ember Introduces The UK’s First Electric Coach Service

Living in the capital myself, it seems as if UK business revolves around London. But, when it comes to transport, it is anything but.

London’s dense urban jungle of transport includes tubes, trains, trams, double and single decker buses, ride-hailing apps, micro-mobility services and much more, which is a totally different ecosystem to the rest of the country.

For example, buses in London are completely different from the rest of the UK, as many people outside the capital are more reliant on them as their only alternative to car ownership; especially in places that are not well-connected.

So, when I found out about Ember, the UK’s first 100% electric coach service based in Scotland, I was excited to get in touch to find out more about the Edinburgh-based brand, as well as the mobility space far, far away from London.

Speaking to co-founders Pierce Glennie and Keith Bradbury, I got a look into the future of public transport, as the two prepare a fully-electric, intercity coach network in Scotland. With vehicles already on order, they are looking to launch the first route between Dundee and Edinburgh in the next few months before expanding across the UK and beyond.

“We decided to look at environmentally impactful opportunities related to the electrification of transport, ranging from scooters to planes. Battery technology is becoming commercially viable to the point where it is right to launch businesses in this space,” says Bradbury. “Within this landscape, Pierce and I eventually settled on electric coaches as we think that’s where the tipping point has been reached.”

And, with that, Bradbury and Glennie launched Ember.

Planting The Seed

Scotland might not be the first place that pops into your head when you hear the word ‘mobility.’ However, it is perfect for a new company like Ember, thanks to consumer demand and government support.

“Scotland has a different subsidy regime for these vehicles, relative to the rest of the UK,” says Glennie. “It incentivises pure electric vehicles, which allows us to launch and scale the business in a way that’s lower risk than the rest of the UK.”

Scotland’s towns and populations are not that far apart, but they’re not close enough for normal bus services to cater for. Coupled with innovative vehicles and technologies, Ember has a viable business plan that will change the way people will move in the region.

“What we particularly liked about Scotland’s subsidy is that it is available on a level playing field to any company and is based on usage,” says Glennie. ” By comparison, schemes in England have subsidised electric bus purchases but the vehicles end up only being used on short routes. Scotland’s approach incentivises usage since it’s based on kilometres traveled. This is the right way to approach it as, ultimately, usage is what correlates to emission reduction.”

Fundamentally, Scotland is quietly becoming a transport innovation hub for mobility services like Ember to thrive outside the bubble that is London.

There’s A Saying About Buses…

You wait ages for one and then two come along at once.

Ember wants to improve this, and other aspects of taking a bus. “It is important to remove or improve all of the pain points experienced in the existing model to give people a service that is useful to them,” says Bradbury. “With a service like Uber, it was relatively simple stuff such as knowing the fares, making sure you knew where your taxi was and having a feedback system. All of these things solved the problem in a novel way and made taxis viable for a lot more people.”

This is the same approach Ember is looking to take in the bus and coach space. “It’s not that Uber developed a brand-new type of taxi Instead, it took a generic product and made it more convenient, affordable and straightforward to use by using off-the-shelf technologies like GPS. The bus industry needs more of this type of innovation,” adds Glennie.

An example of this is real-time tracking. Many buses claim to have it but the data tends to be inaccurate or out of date. Ember’s telematics will allow it to track vehicles to the second with customers getting a live view of exactly how far away their coach is. Another is ticketing, which Ember will support with both mobile ticketing and in vehicle contactless payments, ensuring a seamless and easy experience for all.

“All of this stuff can be solved in a way that makes the overall proposition much more convenient for the customer, building on the fundamentals of the service,” says Glennie.

Opening The Door To Electrification

All of the benefits mentioned above are being coupled with the fact that these are zero-emission, fully-electric vehicles. Wrapping these factors together, Ember is able to differentiate itself from anyone else in this space.

The first couple of coaches will be supplied by China’s Yutong which, if you didn’t know, is the world’s biggest manufacturers of buses and coaches. This means that Ember doesn’t have to design brand new vehicles, but take what’s working – very well – elsewhere and apply it in a new market.

“If you look at some of the other non-Chinese manufacturers, they are still dealing with prototypes and are in the early stages of EV development,” says Bradbury. “Whereas, you go to someone like Yutong, who is shipping tens of thousands of electric vehicles per year, and you can buy it off the shelf knowing it’s got a great track record.”

Ultimately, it’s not about the amount of money being invested, but about targeting it better and having the urgency to make a rapid transition. China has achieved this, with a much more strategic approach that is driving change.

But we are seeing a technology shift, mostly down to the environmental urgency that has developed in the UK, which has created a new demand for zero-emission and smart transport. In turn, this has been coupled with a massive reduction in battery costs, making it much more viable to invest in compelling electric vehicles.

“It’s not that the science has changed on climate change, but it was seen as an abstract problem 10 years ago. No one really wanted to address it,” says Bradbury. “Now the climate emergency is firmly within the social conscious and the 2030 targets that once seemed far off are less than a decade away, which is not a long time when people are buying vehicles today that will still be operational beyond 2030.”

From a passenger car perspective, there is still a big jump for people who are in ICE vehicles, because they’re either too expensive or do not have the desired range. However, when it comes to commercial vehicles or a service like Ember, consumers don’t have to worry about the logistics.

“We can do the planning, scheduling, and optimisation to make it happen and the passenger doesn’t have to think about it, which is key to the experience,” says Glennie. “For example, we are installing the charging infrastructure, which is still too complicated for people living in places that do not have off-street parking.”

Ember’s coaches will be doing 300,000 kilometres per year and will see thousands of customers use the service. Through this, they will overcome some of their misconceptions around electric vehicles.

In short, Ember is helping consumers, perhaps unknowingly, take the first step into electrification.