Electric Vehicle Visits at DVC
On the 20 March 2023, Dearne Valley College was visited by our bus partner Zeelo for an exciting electric vehicle day. Students were able to interact with the future of travel and attend talks with manufacturers, Pelican, and local bus operators, Wilfreda Beehive. The roadshow was organised by RNN Group and Zeelo as part of a trial for net-zero emissions in travel.
By 2030, Zeelo intends to have a carbon-neutral fleet in the UK. To accomplish this, they started using electric buses from their partner Pelican for the past four weeks. This electric bus is a Yutong TCe 12, which has the amazing ability to run 200 miles on a single charge. Our visitors from Pelican, Simon Colins (UK Coach Sales Manager) and James Haugh (Engineering Manager), spoke in depth with our motor vehicle and engineering students from across our three campuses about the ways that these buses run and the benefits of this on our environment.
Simon Colins, said:
“Thanks for the opportunity to showcase Pelican and Zeelo’s vehicles to a very keen audience. The students were very well informed and asked many questions that were based on sound knowledge and understanding; we were impressed.”
We feel that the agenda for clean air and zero emissions is driven in part by students like yours. We are always happy to assist in helping students understand what is available and hopefully inspire them to be the future advocates for zero emissions and engineers that we will all need.”
The electric vehicle started at our North Nott’s campus, travelled through Rotherham College, and ended at Dearne Valley College, collecting students along the way to experience the difference of the journey. Engineering students at Rotherham College reported
“The passenger experience was similar to that of traditional fossil fuels, and we were surprised at the rapid charge duration being only 2 hours.”
The event proved to be a great success, with our students gaining valuable insight into the future of travel.
Sam Ryan, CEO and Co-founder of Zeelo, commented:
“Going green requires the right partnerships, educating all relevant stakeholders, including the next generations, and I believe it requires real-life trials to accelerate adoption. I’m thrilled organisations like RNN Group are jumping on board our net-zero programme alongside our corporate clients and our network of bus operator partners, including Wilfreda Beehive in the UK.”
Thank you to our visitors: Tom Kinsey and Lexie Warburton from Zeelo; Simon Colins and James Haugh from Pelican and Peter Scholey and Mieczyslaw from Wildreda Beehive.
RNN Group educates over 11,000 learners annually and is supported by over 1,000 staff. For more information, please visit: www.rnngroup.co.uk
Zeelo provides the most trusted, sustainable, and tech-enabled commuter bus services across three continents. For more information, please visit www.zeelo.co