The London Electrobus Company, was a

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

operator that ran a fleet of

electric bus An electric bus is a bus that is propelled using electric motors, as opposed to a conventional internal combustion engine. Electric buses can store the needed electrical energy on board, or be fed mains electricity continuously from an external ...

es in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The electrobus was the first practical

battery-electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. Battery electric buses offer the potential for z ...

and a forerunner of the electric buses that are experiencing a major resurgence in the 21st century. The company, which was first registered in April 1906, started running a service of electrobuses between London's Victoria Station and Liverpool Street on 15 July 1907. The clean and quiet electrobuses were popular with the travelling public. The company introduced a number of innovations and it was the first

double-decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They app ...

operator to experiment with a roof on the upper deck.The Fraud that Killed Off London’s First Electric Buses
- Ian Mansfield, 9 January 2014 At the peak of its success in late 1908 the company had 20 or so buses in operation and it started to run a second bus route from Victoria to Kilburn. However, the London Electrobus Company was beset by financial chicanery throughout its short existence. By 3 January 1910 the electrobus service had ceased and the company went into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

amid accusations of

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

. Eight of the electrobuses were sold to the Brighton, Hove and Preston United company. The rest of the London electrobuses were broken up for spares. The Brighton bus company was taken over by

Thomas Tilling The Tilling Group was one of two conglomerates that controlled almost all of the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between World Wars I and II and until nationalisation in 1948. Tilling, together with the other conglomerate, British E ...

in 1916 and the last electrobus in Brighton ran in April 1917. Tilling said that a lack of spare parts had forced it to stop running electrobuses.

References

External links

Model of Electrobus LN 714 at Brighton Toy and Model Museum
Bus transport in London Transit authorities with electric buses Former London bus operators {{environment-stub

See also

References

External links