Highlights
- Operate a fully electric vehicle fleet, including maintenance and support vehicles.
- Work with manufacturers on batteries and bus aerodynamics; to make them more efficient.
- Have on-site renewable energy generation, to charge buses using only clean electricity.
- Their operating costs are lower, as there is no need to rely on fossil fuels, allowing reduced ticket prices.
- Their operating system assists with exact scheduling of routes and planned stops.
- Serve smaller communities, and overnight trips on all routes.
Ember based in Edinburgh is a fully electric intercity bus travel company, delivering the decarbonisation of Scotland’s roads. By bringing a green alternative to the intercity bus market, Ember have created a more competitive marketplace and grown the overall market size.
They run zero emission services on two routes from Dundee to Edinburgh and Glasgow, and plan to create a national network across Scotland. They have an innovative and tech-led business model which involves developing the full range of services which support the delivery of their sustainable transport services.
Sustainability is core to their business model, as they take advantage of improvements enabled by green technologies to deliver better service. When designing a new timetable for example, they ensure that they are using their vehicles as intensively as possible. They do this to ensure that the lifetime emissions of each vehicle (including from manufacturing) are as low as possible, and they are not being unnecessarily wasteful.
Ember are actively developing bus charging hubs in Aberdeen and Inverness, which will be the next two cities added to the network. They work closely with the councils and local authorities to optimise their service and help develop the infrastructure for electrical buses, identifying renewable sources where possible.
Ember track and monitor all aspects of their business, from the mileage, user use, battery charging status to the weather, to enhance the quality of their service. They use the data to optimise the routes and battery
use.
Their very intensive use of electrical vehicles created unique challenges. The information is shared with the manufacturer to improve the bus and battery capacity. For example working on the bus’s aerodynamics to
make them more efficient.
They plan to integrate more zero-emission last-mile solutions into our service offering. This will allow their customers to access a zero-emission service which is truly door-to-door, and make their service even more attractive compared to the private car.
“We are pleased to have won the VIBES Sustainable Transport Scotland award. Decarbonisation is at the heart of Ember and drives every aspect of our work. VIBES provides recognition of everything we've achieved so far, and the showcase of sustainable practices from all across Scottish business only inspires us to continue building and further grow our positive impact.”
“Winning the STV Green Fund Award is a fantastic added bonus. We are looking forward to using this airtime to share how we have embraced sustainability and inspire others to join us as we forge a path to net zero transport in Scotland.” Harvey Logan, Founders Associate - Ember
The Sustainable Transport Scotland award recognises organisations which have set out clear objectives to engage with and adopt sustainable travel and transport measures and activities both internally, and externally and can demonstrate ambitious and successful implementation