Summer 2025 saw the completion of the conversion of the existing Basildon diesel depot to house 78 EV buses.

The project adapted the existing depot in Basildon to accept EV Buses with an overhead gantry charging solution. Working in conjunction with First Bus, the installation supplies power to a brand-new fleet of Yutong single and double decker buses.

The Four gantries have been designed to provide a clear yard area under with the required headroom for clear double decker bus movement underneath. Further link steelwork sections are provided to so that cables can be routed to the boundary and existing Depot building.

The design also provides additional benefits of keeping the yard free from “ground mounted charger” obstructions, maintaining driver car parking capacities, and allowing for bus driver training functions as well as a range of B2X charging solutions for other vehicles including HGV and Coaches.

The innovative gantry installation utilises Heliox Flex 180 chargers at ground level, feeding electrically operated reels suspended above each bus at high level. The reels provide remote lowering of power leads adjacent to the charging port of each bus, reducing trailing cables and intermediate islands. The chargers are in located the “dead” spatial zones in line with the existing building columns.

There was further ground mounted chargers located around the perimeter of the site also utilising Heliox Flex 180 unit and 4No. 360KWH chargers are located on the site to provided ultra-fast charging.