Ember launched in Scotland in 2020 as the UK’s first all-electric intercity bus operator and has expanded beyond its initial Edinburgh–Dundee route to serve Glasgow, Stirling and Kinross. The company is scaling its fleet: the purchase of 14 additional coaches will take total vehicles to 38, up from the two coaches it started with. Ember has upgraded its coaches to increase passenger spaces from 38 to 53, tripled luggage capacity, added 5G WiFi and deployed an onboard operating system, EmberOS, with real-time route information and temperature controls. To support operations and growth it is rolling out multiple new charging hubs around Scotland. Ember’s recent financing activity includes loans and government-backed support and an equity round earlier in the year, which it is using to buy coaches and expand routes. The business is positioning to provide more passenger trips weekly and to scale its network further as it deploys the new vehicles and charging infrastructure. Ember develops and operates an all-electric intercity coach network, pairing custom Yutong vehicles with proprietary fleet software (EmberOS) and charging infrastructure. The fleet currently comprises 24 buses in operation and 14 new next‑gen vehicles recently received (38 total), featuring 563 kWh batteries with ~510 km range and 600 kW charging. Ember runs a main 1,200 kW charging hub in Dundee backed by on-site wind turbines and plans to add about 4 MW of charging capacity across more Scottish sites this year. Its EmberOS automates driver/vehicle allocation, maintenance handling and passenger communications, and the company reports service levels carrying tens of thousands of passengers a week. Ember emphasizes a full-stack approach—hardware, charging, operations and software—to scale intercity electric service and plans to complete a Scottish network and begin expansion into England next year. The company has raised external capital to fund that growth, including seed and Series A rounds.

Total raised

$21M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Debt Financing

Latest activity

Jun 2024