Electric buses will be introduced on the county’s first ‘zero-emission’ route in the summer, bosses have confirmed.

Kent County Council (KCC) is currently using “ultra-low emission" diesel buses on the new Dover Fastrack scheme.

But the authority says five battery-powered buses will begin service in August after supply issues delayed their arrival.

The project, which cost £34m, connects Whitfield with Dover town centre and Dover Priory railway station.

Shane Hymers, the service’s development manager at KCC, says new charging points should be in place months in advance.

“We expect them [the electric buses] to be on the road in August,” he said.

“For the chargers at Dover Priory station the groundwork is set to be completed in late March or early April.”

Mr Hymers was giving a progress report at the Dover joint transportation advisory board meeting in Whitfield earlier this month.

He said the new service had an average of 400 passenger journeys a day and 95% of the buses were operating on time.

This means arriving at a stop between five minutes early and five minutes late.

Several passengers for the service are hoped to be new residents in the developing Whitfield area catching the high-speed train to commute to London.

Mr Hymers said the bus timetable will be revised for passengers to use the first and last trains at Dover Priory.

He said there is currently one difficulty at the service's Tesco stage at Whitfield where passengers can also catch the established 61 bus.

He explained the two services cannot have a common stop because Fastrack vehicles cannot get around a pinch point at the stop for the 61, which uses smaller buses.

It means people have to walk 100 yards to the new Fastrack stop across a busy road.

He said signs will be put up to make that clear and confirmed KCC has been in contact with Tesco over possible solutions, such as a new footpath or a new bus stop.

Mr Hymers told the meeting: “The walk between the stop at Tesco and the Fastrack stop is not a great one because crossing the road of the entry to Tesco is quite busy.”

He added the new service had a fleet of five buses with three out on the road at any one time.