A KILWINNING bus firm is set to add electric vehicles to its fleet for the first time thanks to a share of a £62 million Scottish Government fund.

Shuttle Buses, based on Longford Avenue, is one of 12 transport operators set to share in the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fun (ScotZEB) – more than £8m of which is coming to Ayrshire.

Shuttle Buses will receive £485,955 to enable the company to add five electric vehicles to its fleet – and to install the associated charging infrastructure.

And Stagecoach’s Western Buses division will receive £8.029m to bring 39 new electric buses to the roads of Ayrshire and south-west Scotland.

The funding award, announced by Transport Scotland recently, will see 276 old diesel-powered vehicles replaced by new battery-electric models as part of the Scottish Government’s largest investment so far in decarbonising the country’s bus network.

Half of the new vehicles will be built in Scotland, at the Alexander Dennis Ltd works in Falkirk.

Scotland’s transport minister Jenny Gilruth said: “We’re supporting smaller bus operators and rural service providers, who are equally keen to step up and help tackle the climate emergency.

“We’re putting buses at the heart of Scotland’s green recovery.”