SCOTLAND is to get its first battery-powered buses - and they will hit the roads in and around Glasgow.

SCOTLAND is to get its first battery-powered buses - and they will hit the roads in and around Glasgow.

Two diesel-powered buses are to be converted to diesel-electric technology at a cost of £107,000.

The hybrid buses are powered by a battery pack that is kept charged up by a conventional small car-size engine or a larger engine operating at much reduced capacity.

They will be operated by Henderson Buses and will be used on the 310 service between Shettleston, Baillieston and Easterhouse and the 395 route from East Kilbride to Eaglesham and Newton Mearns.

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport will pay to convert the buses.

SPT decided to try the buses on routes that cover as large a mix of urban, suburban and rural areas as possible.

The starting date has not yet been revealed but is said to be "soon".

The move comes after transport bosses in London ruled all new buses entering service from 2012 will have to be hybrid-powered. There are six operating there as a pilot scheme.

It is believed the buses will slash pollution, reducing carbon monoxide by 83% and carbon dioxide by 38%.

Fuel use will be reduced by 40% and the vehicles are said to reduce noise levels by 30%.

The trial project in Glasgow will be monitored to see the effect on fuel use and emissions and the results reported to the SPT.

SPT chairman Alistair Watson said: "This is our attempt to respond to dwindling world fuel supplies and the need to make public transport more fuel efficient.

"We as an organisation would be more than willing to grant assist any organisation encouraged by this.

"We will assess the trial on a month by month basis and if it is successful we will want to talk to operators and the Government about their plans for fuel efficiency."