In January we launched a community bond issue with an initial target of £100,000 to enable us to buy an electric bus for use on our services in Brighton & Hove. In ten days we were halfway there and a week later we reached our initial target but the offers kept coming so we re-jigged the business plan and set our sights on a new target of £200,000 to fund two buses.

In the last few days we have exceeded our new target, with a grand total of £250,ooo raised for new zero-emission electric vehicles for Brighton & Hove.

We’re very excited at the prospect of running electric buses in Brighton & Hove, and would like to thank everyone who’s invested in us, as well as all those who’ve offered support in other ways. The response to our campaign has been incredible, and the money raised will enable us to further reduce emissions in the city and improve air quality. It will also give us probably the greenest fleet of buses in the country, which we hope will open up further opportunity to offer sustainable bus services in Brighton & Hove and beyond.

Tom Druitt, MD, The Big Lemon

The £250,000 will be spent on two electric buses and the charging stations to keep them topped up. The buses will be able to run the whole day with the help of short bursts of extra electricity provided by a ‘fast-charger’ at the end of the route.

It’s amazing! I’m so happy, its such good news

Jo, passenger on the 52 service

The emissions of the buses will be nil, saving 11 tonnes of CO2, 1.4 tonnes of NO2 and 81 kg of particulates per bus each year. The buses will run on electricity from renewable sources.

Brighton Area Buswatch congratulates The Big Lemon on this achievement. Raising £250,000 in just a few weeks is phenomenal. We look forward to seeing quiet zero emission yellow electric buses on our streets soon

Andrew Boag, Chair, Brighton & Hove Buswatch

The community bond issue is now finished, but if you missed that boat there is still an opportunity to invest. We have launched a share offer for people interested in a longer term investment that we are registering under the Enterprise Investment Scheme. For further details click here

To download a PDF copy of our investment brochure please click here