Coventry was the first UK city to commit to a near-total transition to electric bus services, delivering the Coventry Electric Bus City programme at scale and under live operational conditions. This webinar examines how that delivery experience, including depot-based charging, integrated solar and battery storage, and close working with operators, created the technical, commercial and organisational confidence needed to develop Coventry’s subsequent All-Electric Bus City (AEBC) submission.

Drawing on real performance data, passenger evidence and delivery lessons, the session will move beyond policy ambition to focus on what actually changed on the ground and why that mattered to funders. It will explore how early successes reduced risk, corrected assumptions, and strengthened the value-for-money case, enabling Coventry to progress from an initial electric bus programme to a credible city-scale AEBC bid.

The webinar builds on Shamala’s recent article which she authored for our blog, and it is aimed at CIHT and Bus Centre of Excellence members and will be particularly relevant to local authorities, transport planners and engineers considering how to move from pilots to scalable zero-emission bus programmes.

Speakers

Shamala Gadgil
EV Infrastructure Programme Manager
Consultant working on behalf of Coventry City Council & Commercial

Shamala Gadgil is a civil engineer and senior programme and project manager working as a consultant to Coventry City Council within the Transport and Innovation Division. She has led a number of nationally significant decarbonisation and innovation programmes, including Coventry’s Electric Bus City programme, electric vehicle charging infrastructure strategy, and integrated renewable energy and battery storage projects. Her work focuses on translating policy ambition into deliverable infrastructure, with particular experience in operator engagement, depot electrification, grid constraints, and funding submissions. She has played a central role in developing evidence-led business cases, including Coventry’s All-Electric Bus City submission, drawing directly on live operational data and delivery experience. Shamala is a part-time PhD researcher at Coventry University, examining knowledge transfer in electric vehicle charging infrastructure between lead and follower markets. She is also Chair of the Transport Technology Forum’s Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Working Group and a Fellow and Member of several professional institutions, including CIHT.