Explore new "stylish" electric buses which will operate across Portsmouth, Gosport, Havant, and Fareham

A total of 62 environmentally friendly vehicles are being rolled out this month, with the fleet being fully operational in April. Two of the newest vehicles were on display to the public in Guildhall Square on Monday (March 11).

The government awarded £12.7m to Portsmouth City Council, Hampshire County Council and First Bus as part of its Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, which made the creation of the new fleet possible. First Bus invested a further £15.9m into the project.

MORE LIKE THIS: Brand new electric buses unveiled in Portsmouth

The vehicles will operate on numerous routes, including the number X4 (from The Hard, Fareham and Southampton), number 1 (from The Hard to South Parade Pier via Fratton), number 3 (from Fareham to South Parade Pier), number X5 from Gosport to Southampton via Fareham and the Eclipse route between Gosport and Fareham. When not serving passengers, the vehicles will be charging at the Hoeford bus depot in Gosport Road, Fareham, which contains 33 charging base units with two points each.

The single deckers, which cost £350,000 each, take two and a half hours to charge. All of them have camera monitoring systems instead of wing mirrors, which provides drivers with superior levels of vision in all weather conditions. First Bus is aiming to use only electric buses in its fleet by 2035. Terry Moore, 57, of Portsmouth, a former bus driver who worked in the role for 16 years, described the vehicles as “stylish” and “posh”.