DNV has acted as technical advisor to Rock Road as it secured a £100 million funding platform to finance up to 250 zero-emission buses and associated infrastructure across the UK.

Rock Rail, the UK Infrastructure Bank and Aviva, through its in-house capital unit Aviva Capital Partners, have formed a partnership to provide a new funding platform for zero emission bus financier ‘Rock Road’ for UK bus operators and public transport authorities to decarbonize their fleet, while minimizing capital outlay and mitigating key ownership risks. The partnership, alongside a debt facility from UK Infrastructure Bank and HSBC UK, is committing an initial £100m.

DNV advised the partnership on its first deal to fund 60 battery-electric buses that will be leased to The Go-Ahead Group and deployed on routes throughout London, reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality across the capital.

DNV conducted independent technical due diligence on a portfolio of single and double decker e-buses for use on routes across the Capital. In addition to technical aspects of e-bus operations, DNV provided a tailored scope which included forecast costs for lithium-ion battery replacements, analysis of the battery strategy (including degradation and duty cycle analysis), analysis of warranty documents, fault history analysis, and vehicle charging strategy. This analysis and pragmatic due diligence process helped to provide confidence to investors on technical aspects of the e-buses, such as potential battery lifetimes and battery replacement costs, which are a fundamental consideration for the commercial offering.

DNV’s Energy Transition Outlook UK 2024 forecasts that electric vehicles are leading the charge to decarbonize road transport. By 2040, approximately 98% of all vehicle sales will be battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) or fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs)

Hari Vamadevan, Senior Vice President, and Regional Director UK & Ireland of Energy Systems at DNV, said: “We are delighted to have provided our in-depth independent technical knowledge to support the effort of Rock Road and its investors to secure funding to expand the electric bus fleet across London. The electrification of transport is a core element of the UK’s Net-Zero strategy. This project is a key step in decarbonizing public transport in metropolitan cities in the UK, improving air quality in high traffic areas and providing state of the art transport to passengers.”