The UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) and investors have formed a £100m fund to electrify hundreds of London’s buses.

The partnership with Rock Rail and Aviva will also see the construction of “associated infrastructure” such as charging stations. It has been designed as “a scalable funding model” that could help to accelerate decarbonisation of public bus fleets across the UK without relying too heavily on public money.

It has already signed its first deal to fund 60 battery-electric buses, which will be leased to the Go-Ahead Group and deployed on routes throughout London.

UKIB is a state-owned development bank specifically designed to help the government meet its 2050 net zero goals. It is providing £50m for the project.

John Flint, UKIB CEO, said: “The vast majority of the UK’s 36,500 buses are still diesel-powered, and so replacing these with a cleaner, greener alternative will be key in decarbonising the transport sector and achieving UK net zero targets. This will require a massive scale...